INTRODUCTION TO FICTION

A novel, story, drama, or poem is the expression of an author's imagination.

The characters and situations are "made up." Readers expect fiction to

reflect the real world; they do not expect it to portray the real world. And

yet fiction can seem very real without being factual. Fiction teaches an

individual on how to live. Fiction makes the reader visit places, experience

events, meet people, listen to them, feel their joys and sufferings. It takes

years to acquire so much wisdom that a single book of literary merit instils in

a reader.

Fiction usually mirrors society and its mannerisms. Because of Charles

Dickens you can experience the Hard Times of the Victorian England

without going through a detailed historical study. The fact-based education

system, the fractured human relationships, the smoky polluted towns, the ill-

effects of Industrial Revolution, the misery of labourers, the mercenary

instincts of men and the flawed legal system of the land. A single book will

give you an entire picture of the evils of Victorian English Society.

Literature in general and fiction in particular, is a storehouse of all

knowledge and wisdom. History, Political Studies, Philosophy, Science and

all other forms of learning are part of literature.

Literature is important in everyday life because it connects individuals

with larger truths and ideas in a society. Literature creates a way for people

to record their thoughts and experiences in a way that is accessible to others,

through fictionalized accounts of the experience. The study

of literature is important because it, at its most basic, improves reading

skills. From a purely academic standpoint, reading literature of high quality

helps a student discern good writing from bad writing. This helps them in

their own writing.

Literature is a mirror of the society because all things are labeled in the

literature. Subject of feeling are prescribed in the form of stories, narration,

incident, poetry are the adjective of literature which qualify the conditions

and act of people. Our actions lay a foundation for the future and this impact

are uprooted in a literature. It sketches the naked faces of animals born as

humans. It distinguishes between the art of living and state of thoughts.

There is no sketch of boundaries and sets of rules in literature. The ink which

dried upon some lines hits directly on the mind and souls. Our thoughts

create a literature and we are not apart but a bunch of words that

reflect idealism of the society.

Importance of literature: Literature is simply inside and all around us. It is

inescapable, in one form or another. When you watch a television program, a

video on the Internet or a film, you are absorbing literature. When you listen

to the lyrics of a song, you are enjoying it for its literary content.

We are all programmed with literature, even if we do not know it. We

understand popular entertainments because we have literature inside of us.

Literature is the enormous body of stories and ideas that we have received

from our parents and from our culture from the time we were able to put two

words together. So literature is to be accepted or rejected, studied or

ignored—it is part of the individual. To instill the social and spiritual values,

literature is a basic tool, without which life will be so materialistic and

greedy. Value system is a must for every individual, community and country

to be effective and success oriented.

For the newer generations to know the history of their own places and other

parts of the world, literature is the main source. Literature – especially fiction

and the short story has been the support and inspiration of the downtrodden

and labourers in their fight against the corrupt rulers. The difference between

humans and animals, intellectual growth, self-actualization, etc. can also be

attributed to scriptures, etc. which are a part of literature.

Self-development, inspirational books, (auto) biographies of successful

personalities are helpful to billions of people in leading a successful life.

Career enhancement, detailed study materials, research journals etc. also

contribute in a great way. In short, for a refined human society, literature is a

must for its upkeep and further refinement, for sure.

The important purpose of literature has always been to allow us to safely test

our moral fibres against the grain of hardened anathemas: killing, adultery,

incest, pornography, theft, anarchy have all been explored in various forms

of literature. Whether as primary or even minor themes, words became

safety-gloves allowing authors to pull these taboos from the heart of outrage.

Here, no one was really killed; no one is really being cheated on.

These characters are as real as you want them to be, existing in your head:

but, nevertheless, the good writer makes you feel as though these are people

betrayed, killed, misunderstood. Whether you came to change your moral

outlook on adultery because of Madame Bovary or lessened your anger at

murder because of Crime and Punishment remain less important than

whether you truly engaged with these concepts, from the safety of the open

book.

It seems, as usual, that the hardened religious folks are the ones who truly

understand the power of words: they are the ones wanting various books to

be used as kindle for their literal flames of outrage. Whether it was

Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, and so on, the

outraged were the ones realising the power of moral testing that literature

provokes. Often, those who are the most outraged by social taboos are those

least qualified to talk about them: whether from experience or from

intellectual understanding. Yet it is these very same who want no words but

their own to have moral dominion in our conceptions of what is and is not

taboo. This should be an unacceptable position for any person genuinely

interested in what is right by virtue of reason, not by assertion.

With reason, one can debate, repair a moral failing and improve on mistakes

with reading. Assertion brings with it the presumption of infallible moral

thinking. This is called dogma. To prevent dogma, we ought to engage as

reasonable beings with these taboo issues themselves. Literature, like novels

and comics, allow us to experience such taboos “first-hand”: it’s happening

“to you” and “no one else”, though it still allows you to talk it out with

fellow readers.

Weaving these kinds of social taboos, along with strictly comics taboos,

writers like John Milton, James Joyce, help move readers forward in their

thinking to be better moral agents and, therefore, better people. Hitting close

to the mind also means hitting close to the heart, in these cases. Writers, as

creator gods, can fashion characters we can – often literally – fall in love

with, only to kill them off due to the dictates of story.

Consider how often people have cried over poetry, over literature, or the

death of certain characters in fiction are given form and life as much as

anyone else – our reactions might be less by degrees, but not different in

terms of kind. The ethical importance then of literature and fictional story-

telling – in the form of novels, comics, even video games, films and

television – is that of the safe space we’re allotted to test our and other kinds

of morality. Fiction has two uses and they are:

Firstly, it is a gateway to reading. The drive to know what happens next. To

want to turn the page. The need to keep going, because someone is in

trouble, and you have to know how it’s all going to end. It forces you to learn

new languages, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that

reading is, by itself, pleasurable. Once you learn that, you can read

everything.

Secondly, fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch television or see

a film, you look at things as happening to other people. Prose fiction is

something you build up from words and a handful of punctuation marks, and

you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world, and look at it

through other eyes. No two readers interpret the situation exactly in the same

fashion, as each one’s experiences are different, though there may be

similarities; but it is never from the same mould.

You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise

visit. You are being someone else, and when you return to your own

dimension, you are going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for

building people into groups, for allowing us to function as a society and not

as self-centred individuals. You are also finding out something as you read,

vitally important for making your way in the world. It is this: The world does

not have to be the way it is. Things can be different.

Fiction has an obligation to improve the mind of the reader, and make it

beautiful. Reading fiction will not leave the world uglier than the reader

found it. Fiction can show the reader a different world. It can reader

somewhere the reader has never been. Once you have visited other worlds,

you can never be entirely satisfied with the world you grew up in.

Dissatisfaction is good: People can modify and improve their worlds, leave

them better, leave them different.

We have an obligation to read aloud to our children. To read to them things

they enjoy. To read to them stories we are already tired of. Fiction will bring

to life the voices of the characters, and make it interesting. Use reading time

as bonding time, as time when no phones are being checked. Reading should

be a time when the distractions of the world are put aside.

Writers – writers for children, all writers – have an obligation to the readers

of the books. It is the obligation to write true things, even when we are

creating tales of people who do not exist, in places that never were – to

understand that truth is not in what happens, but in what it tells us about who

we are. Fiction is the lie that tells the truth. We have an obligation not to bore

our readers, but to make them need to turn the pages.

Adults and children, writers and readers – have an obligation to read. We

have an obligation to imagine the world as being a better place than it is, and

our endeavour is to adopt the means to make it one. It is easy to pretend that

nobody can change anything. It’s easy to pretend that we live in a world, in

which society is huge, and the individual is less than nothing, but the truth is,

individuals change their world over and over. Individuals make the future,

and they do it by imagining that things can be different.

In a room everything you can see, including the walls, was, at some point,

imagined. Someone decided it was easier to sit on a chair than on the ground,

and imagined the chair. This room and the things in it, and all the other

things in this building, this city exists because, over and over and over,

people imagined things. They daydreamed, they pondered, they made things

that did not quite work, and they described things that did not yet exist to

people who laughed at them.

The overarching theme in studying fiction is that it makes a reader think and

make a reader feel. One is surrounded by stories—they are like air—yet

compelling stories on the part of the author requires work, craft, technique,

and conviction. The elements of fiction writing are the scene, setting,

characters, dialogues, language, time period, structure, etc. The objective of

reading fiction, either the longer novel or the short story provides the

foundation needed for higher-level creative thought to give the reader

become more nuanced thinkers and decisive. Skills gained will translate into

non-fiction and essay writing as well.

Fiction helps you understand other people’s perspectives: Fiction has a

power that no other form of communication does: the power to insert you

fully and completely in someone else’s mind. It is a meld between the mind of

the reader and the writer, and the minds of reader and character. When you

read fiction, you are seeing the world through a character’s eyes. Watching a

character interact with the world around them is powerful. When studying

history, a history book gives you a series of dry facts and anecdotes, but

historical fiction sets you down in the middle of the time period, allows you to

touch and taste the world around you, interact with contemporaries, solve

problems. You understand the period contextually as you never could from

the removed perspective of a history book.

Good fiction runs deep into the realms of psychology and philosophy. It

explores and uncovers paradigm. It allows you to understand perspectives you

have never seen before, both psychological and physical. When you read

fiction, you can be someone you would never otherwise have the chance to

become — another gender, another age, someone of another nationality or

another circumstance. You can be an explorer, a scientist, an artist, a young

and single mother or an orphaned cabin boy or a soldier. When you take off

the guise again — set down the book — you walk away changed. You have

understood things you did not understand before, and that shapes your

worldview from that moment.

Fiction deepens your understanding of evolution: Everything evolves —

 individuals, paradigms, culture, technology evolve. To study history is to

study the evolution of civilization. All stories have narrative linearity — a

beginning, a middle, and an end. This marks an evolution — be it of a

character or a series of events. Something gets changed. This phenomenon of

evolution is important on multiple levels. On a conceptual scale, watching

evolution occur in fiction is valuable, because fiction deals in expedited

timelines. You can see things from a zoomed-out perspective and see things

you would not observe in normal day-to-day life. Watching the evolution

unfold helps you begin to understand the process.

On the level of an individual, watching characters evolve helps us understand

individual human evolution — both that of those around us, and our own. On a

broader level, fiction allows us to see the evolution of events, narratives,

trajectories — even societies. When we look at the world, we see it in pieces,

and it’s hard to understand how those pieces fit together. On a linear timeline,

how did we get from point A to point B? Fiction gives us the contexts.

Fiction allows you to see the big picture: Point A to point B applies not only

linearly, but in our day-to-day lives. All things in our world fit together, and

fiction allows us to see how. Fiction gives us the rare opportunity to look at

the world objectively. Fiction, in its narration, condenses and gives you things

that are important and highlights them, juxtaposes them against each other,

elaborates on them, paints them clearly as we do not usually see them. An

evolution that can take years — the building of a relationship, the unfolding of

a war, the deterioration of a strong young man into a weak old one — can be

observed in hours.

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck highlighted truths about the Great

Depression that those in the middle of its dust couldn’t clearly see. In The

Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald draws a picture of a man with an overdeveloped

persona in a way that one cannot see interacting with him at the surface, but

can only discern from a distance. It makes the world clearer to see all of it at

once.

Fiction allows you to look at the world in an entirely different light: When

you read fiction, you’re looking at the world through someone else’s eyes. It

could be argued that this is true of all writing — or even all forms of

communication — and this argument would be true, but fiction does

something unique that all other forms cannot. It takes us inside — inside the

mind and the perspective of the character. You are seeing a world defined on

their terms: their metaphors used to describe their surroundings, their context

for events, their perspectives on happenings and relationships.

Looking at the world in different lights is one of the most vital things one can

do in the pursuit of growth. Our perspectives are constantly evolving. When

we look at the world through someone else’s perspective, we try on the

elements of their paradigm — and when we find something we like, we adopt

it and make it our own. In doing so, our own paradigm changes and grows.

Fiction makes our lives rich: Fiction deals with the things that make us

fundamentally human such as conflict, passion, love, lust, fear, hatred,

jealousy, exaltation. Fiction makes us feel, and that feeling makes us richer.

On a very basic level, it makes our lives better to fill ourselves with fiction.

Fiction helps us understand: The definition of fiction is something made up,

but fiction ultimately deals in truth. Ernest Hemingway says “All good books

have one thing in common — they are truer than if they had really happened,

and after you’ve read one of them you will feel that all that happened,

happened to you and then it belongs to you forever: the happiness and

unhappiness, good and evil, ecstasy and sorrow, the food, wine, beds, people,

and the weather.” 

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The Monkey's Paw

Characters

Mr. White: Elderly man apparently retired.

Mrs. White: Wife of Mr. White.

Herbert White: Son of Mr. White.

Sergeant-Major Morris: Dinner guest of the Whites. He brings with him a curious

talisman, a mummified (preserved) monkey's paw.

Representative of Maw and Meggins: Man who delivers horrifying news.

Postman: Mail carrier who makes a delivery that attracts the attention of Mrs. White.

Point of View

.......The narrator presents the story in omniscient third-person point of view. From this

perspective, the narrator can reveal the thoughts of the characters, as in the following

passages:

His [Sergeant-Major Morris's] manner was so impressive that his hearers were conscious

that their light laughter had jarred somewhat.

In mental connection with the two hundred pounds, she [Mrs. White] noticed that the

stranger was well dressed, and wore a silk hat of glossy newness.

Plot Summary

.......In the parlor of Laburnum villa on a stormy evening, the elderly Mr. White attempts to

distract his son Herbert's attention from the chessboard, saying, “Hark at the wind.” But

Herbert notices his father's vulnerable king nonetheless.

.......“I should hardly think that he's come to-night,” says Mr. White.

.......The son checkmates his father, who says with violence in his voice, “Of all the beastly,

slushy, out of the way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathway's a bog, and the road's a

torrent.”

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.......“Never mind, dear,” says his wife, who is knitting by the fire; “perhaps you'll win the

next one.”

.......In the cold night outside, they hear the gate bang and footsteps approaching. The elder

White goes to the door and escorts a burly, red-faced man into the room and introduces him

as Sergeant-Major Morris. Morris sits by the fire while White gets out the whiskey.

.......While on his third drink, Morris perks up and speaks of his twenty-one years of

traveling in distant lands, notably India. He tells of “wild scenes and doughty deeds; of wars

and plagues and strange peoples.” Mr. White says he would like to see India—“those old

temples and fakirs and jugglers.”

.......“What was that that you started telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or

something, Morris?"

......."Well, it's just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps."

.......Mr. White pours the sergeant-major another drink as the latter removes a dried,

mummified paw from his pocket. Mrs. White draws back but her son takes it and examines

it, then gives it to his father. He looks it over and sets it on a table, asking Morris what is

unusual about it. The sergeant-major says a fakir had placed a spell on it to demonstrate that

fate controls the lives of people and that anyone who tries to interfere with fate does so at his

peril.

.......“He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it."

.......The first man made his three wishes, Morris says. The last was a wish for death.

.......“That's how I got it,” the sergeant-major points out, speaking in a grave tone.

.......When Mr. White inquires why Morris keeps it, he replies, “Fancy, I suppose.” He would

like to sell it because, he says, it has caused him trouble. But many people are reluctant to

buy it because they doubt its power. Some want to try a wish first before paying him.

.......Suddenly, Morris takes the paw and throws it into the fire. White snatches it back out.

Morris tells him he should toss it back in, but White puts it into his pocket and asks how to

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make a wish.

......."Hold it up in your right hand, and wish aloud," says the sergeant-major, "But I warn

you of the consequences."

.......When Mrs. White gets up and begins setting the supper table, Mr. White takes out the

monkey's paw. Morris, alarmed, quickly grasps his arm. His hosts all begin laughing.

......."If you must wish, wish for something sensible," Morris says.

.......White puts it back in his pocket, sets the table chairs in place, and everyone eats. Then

the Whites listen to more of Morris's stories of India. After he leaves, everyone jokes about

the monkey's paw.

.......“Why, we're going to be rich, and famous, and happy,” Herbert says. “Wish to be an

emperor, father, to begin with; then you can't be henpecked."

.......Mrs. White chases her son playfully around the table while Mr. White takes out the

talisman. He says he does not know what to wish for, because he has everything that he

wants. Herbert suggests £200 to pay off the house, and so the old man says, “I wish for two

hundred pounds.”

Immediately after stating the wish, Mr. White cries out and drops the talisman. His son and

wife run to him.

......."As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake," the old man says.

.......“Well, I don't seen the money,” says his son.

.......His wife says her husband must have imagined that the talisman moved.

.......After they sit down at the fireplace, the two men smoke their pipes. When the wind

roars outside, a door bangs upstairs. Silence descends on the room. Then Mr. and Mrs. White

decide to retire. When Herbert is alone in the parlor, he sees faces in the fire, the last

resembling that of a monkey. Unnerved, he reaches to the table for a glass of water to throw

on the fire but finds the talisman instead. After holding it momentarily, he lets go of it, wipes

his hand on his coat, and goes to bed.

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.......There is a bright winter sun the next morning. At the breakfast table, Herbert dismisses

his uneasiness of the previous evening as baseless. Mrs. White says Morris's story about the

monkey's paw was nonsense. Mr. White says Morris told him that the talisman's wishes are

granted "so naturally that you might if you so wished attribute it to coincidence."

.......Herbert then goes out. When the postman delivers the mail, Mrs. White goes to with

expectation in spite of what she said about placing no faith in the monkey's paw. But there is

only a tailor's bill.

.......Later, at the dinner table, Mr. White insists that the monkey's paw moved when he held

it. Mrs. White says he imagined that it did.

.......“I say it did,” says her husband.

.......When a well-dressed stranger arrives at the door, Mrs. White admits him and escorts

him inside. He identifies himself as a representative of Maw and Meggins, Herbert's place of

employment. Then, in a subdued voice, he announces terrible news: Herbert “was caught in

the machinery.” On behalf of the firm, he expresses “sincere sympathy with you in your

great loss.”

.......The news devastates the old couple. Mr. White takes his wife's hand and says, “He was

the only one left to us. It is hard.”

.......The man then says his employers “disclaim all responsibility” and “admit no liability.”

However, he says, they wish to provide compensation—£200. Mrs. White shrieks. Mr.

White falls to the floor.

.......The days immediately after the burial are long and wearisome. One night, Mr. White

awakens to find his wife at the window, crying. He calls her back to bed in a tender tone,

then falls back to sleep. Moments later, he awakens again when his wife shouts, “THE

PAW! THE MONKEY'S PAW!” She runs toward him saying she wants it. He tells her it is

in the parlor on the mantle. Then she reminds him that there are still two wishes left.

.......“Go down and get it quickly,” she says, “and wish our boy alive again.”

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.......He tells her she is mad. But she insists that he use it again to restore their son.

.......“Bring him back,” she says.

.......He goes downstairs in the dark and finds the talisman. He is distraught. A cold sweat

breaks out on his forehead. What if the as yet unspoken wish brings the young man back in

his mutilated state? When he returns to the bedroom with the talisman, she tells him to wish.

.......“It is foolish and wicked,” he says.

.......“WISH!”

.......He makes the wish, then lets the monkey's paw drop to the floor. The old woman opens

a window blind and peers out. He sits in a chair. They wait. Finally, their candle goes out,

and Mr. White returns to bed. A moment later, she joins him. In the silence—save for the

ticking of the clock—they hear a stair creak. After mustering courage, Mr. White takes a box

of matches, strikes one, and goes downstairs to get a candle. The match goes out on the stairs

and he strikes another. There is a timid knock on the front door. Frightened, Mr. White drops

the matches and runs back upstairs and into the bedroom. When his wife asks what

happened, he says he saw a rat run past him on the stairs. The knock grows louder.

.......“It's Herbert!” Mrs. White says.

.......She runs toward the stairs but her husband grabs her arm and tells her not to answer the

door. There is another knock, then another. Mrs. White breaks free and goes downstairs.

.......“For God's sake, don't let it in,” he shouts.

.......At the door, she cannot reach high enough to push back the bolt lock. She calls for her

husband. But he is crawling around in search of the monkey's paw. If he can find it, he

thinks, he can prevent “the thing” from getting in. The knocker is now pounding at the door.

Mrs. White draws a chair up to it and throws back the bolt just as her husband finds the

monkey's paw and makes a wish—the third and last.

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.......Mrs. White opens the door and wind rushes in. She cries out in misery, and her husband

rushes to her side. There is no one there. He goes out past the gate to get a better look.

.......“The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road,” the narrator

says.

…………………………………………….THE END………………………………………

.

Climax

.......The climax occurs when the representative of Maw and Meggins tells Mr. and Mrs.

White that their son died in an accident at work. He also informs them that they will receive

£200 as compensation for their son's death—the exact amount that Mr. White had wished for

with the monkey's paw.

Conflict: Man vs Fate

.......Sergeant-Major Morris tells the Whites that the old fakir who cast a spell on the

mummy's paw "wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered

with it did so to their sorrow." But Mr. White wishes to challenge fate—perhaps to show that

there is no such thing as fate in the first place or, if there is, that he can get his wish granted

without incurring the wrath of fate. So he wishes for 200 pounds. Later, he is told he will get

the money—as compensation for the tragic death of his son. In his 1849 poem

"Resignation," Matthew Arnold wrote, "They . . . who await / No gifts from chance, have

conquer'd fate."

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Themes

Horror

.......Jacobs craftily spins a tale in which horror overwhelms two of the characters—and

perhaps not a few readers. He begins with a scene of a peaceful contentment: The elderly

Mr. White and his son Herbert enjoy a game of chess in the parlor while Mrs. White sits

knitting nearby. The glow of a fireplace warms the room. Outside, though, it is dark and cold

and stormy, hinting of ominous events to come. A guest arrives, tells stories, dines with the

Whites, and leaves behind a curious talisman, a monkey's paw, that supposedly grants three

wishes to its possessor. Later, Mr. White holds up the talisman and makes his first wish. The

next day the wish is granted—at the cost of Herbert's life. He is mangled in a machine while

at work. Then Mrs. White wonders whether a second wish can bring him back to life, and

the story moves swiftly to its terrifying conclusion.

The Peril of Foolhardy Risks

.......Mr. White tends to act without due consideration of the consequences. This tendency

first manifests itself in a chess game in which he subjects his king to “sharp and unnecessary

perils.” His inclination to act hastily manifests itself again when he risks suffering a burn to

retrieve the monkey's paw from the glowing parlor fire. When Morris urges him to throw it

back, he keeps it. Clearly he wants to test the power of the talisman. And he does so even

though Sergeant Morris had warned him of the possibility of dire consequences.

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Having Everything—and Wanting More

.......After taking possession of the monkey's paw, Mr. White tells his wife and son, "I don't

know what to wish for, and that's a fact. It seems to me I've got all I want." Then he follows

his son's advice to wish for £200. If there is a message here, it is this: Be satisfied if you are

already leading a comfortable life. Wanting more leads to greed, and greed can lead to

trouble.

The Monkey's Paw Summary

The story is set in England around the turn of the twentieth century. It opens with the elderly

Mr. and Mrs. White and their son Herbert in their cozy family home one stormy evening.

Father and son are playing chess while Mrs. White knits by the fire. From their conversation,

it is apparent they areexpecting a visitor. He soon arrives, and is introduced by Mr. White as

Sergeant-Major Morris. The family welcome him warmly, and as he relaxes with a drink, he

tells them exciting stories of his time in India (then under British rule). Mr. White remarks

that he would like to see the strange and exotic sights of India, but Morris says he's better off

at home.

Mr. White remembers the strange tale of a monkey's paw that Morris recently told him.

Morris somewhat reluctantly shows them the paw and declares that an old Indian fakir

placed a spell on it. As a result, according to Morris, the paw has the power to grant three

wishes but brings disaster upon the wisher in the process. Morris then tosses the paw onto

the fire, but Mr. White hastily retrieves it. Morris warns him to have nothing to do with the

paw. However, the Whites are curious, and Mr. White ends up buying the paw from Morris.

After Morris leaves, the Whites decide to put the paw to the test. Mr. White admits that he

can't think of anything to wish for. Herbert suggests that he ask for two hundred pounds to

help with the mortgage. Mr. White wishes upon the paw, and is shocked when he feels it

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move in his hand. Nothing else happens, and Herbert scoffs that he's not likely ever to see

the money. After this Mr. and Mrs. White retire to bed. Herbert remains in the room for a

while, imagining pictures in the fire. Finally, he sees a strange monkey-like face in the

flames which frightens him. Reaching for some water to pour on the fire, he accidentally

touches the monkey's paw which alarms him further. In this rather unsettled mood, he too

heads for bed.

Next morning dawns, bright and cheerful, and Herbert is able to scorn his misgivings of the

previous night. He jokes with his parents about the monkey's paw and then leaves for work.

Mrs. White continues to tease her husband about having made the wish, but she too appears

to be on the lookout for something to happen, and is disappointed when the morning mail

only brings a bill. However, she is intrigued when a well-dressed stranger unexpectedly

turns up at the front door. She makes him as welcome as she can, believing that he is

bringing them good news about the two hundred pounds. In fact, he has come to tell them

that Herbert has been killed in an accident at work. The old couple are utterly devastated at

this news, but there is worse to come. The stranger says that they will receive two hundred

pounds in compensation: exactly the sum that Mr. White wished for upon the monkey's paw.

At this revelation, Mrs. White screams aloud and Mr. White collapses in a faint.

After Herbert's funeral, his grieving parents return to the family home which now appears

desolate. A few nights later, Mr. White awakens to find his wife lamenting for their son at

the window. Then she startles him by suggesting that they should use the monkey’s paw to

wish Herbert alive again. Mr. White is utterly horrified at the thought of summoning their

son back from the grave, especially as he was mangled beyond recognition in the accident.

However Mrs. White is too excited to listen to reason and forces her husband to make the

wish upon the monkey’s paw. Then she waits by the window, but no-one comes. In great

relief, Mr. White returns to bed, and after a while his wife joins him.

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Presently Mr. White gets up again to light a candle. While on the stairs, he suddenly hears a

soft knock at the front door. Terrified, he rushes back to the bedroom. His wife is roused by

the commotion, and he tries to pretend it was just a rat making the noise. However, the

knocking grows louder. Mrs. White is ecstatic, believing that her son has indeed returned,

and hurries downstairs to let him in before her husband can stop her. Mr. White is left with

only one course of action: to make a final wish on the monkey’s paw. We are not told

exactly what it is, but when he makes it, the knocking stops abruptly. When Mrs. White

opens the door, there is nobody there.

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The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin

leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

HIGH above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with

thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. ‘He is as beautiful as a weathercock,’ remarked one of the Town

Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; ‘only not quite so useful,’ he added,

fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

‘Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?’ asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the

moon. ‘The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.’

‘I am glad there is someone in the world who is quite happy,’ muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at

the wonderful statue.

‘He looks just like an angel,’ said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright

scarlet cloaks, and their clean white pinafores.

‘How do you know?’ said the Mathematical Master, ‘you have never seen one.’

‘Ah! but we have, in our dreams,’ answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked

very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.

One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before,

but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the

spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender

waist that he had stopped to talk to her.

‘Shall I love you?’ said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low

bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This

was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.

‘It is a ridiculous attachment,’ twittered the other Swallows, ‘she has no money, and far too many relations;’

and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came, they all flew away.

After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. ‘She has no conversation,’ he said,

‘and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.’ And certainly, whenever the

wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtsies. ‘I admit that she is domestic,’ he continued, ‘but I

love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.’

‘Will you come away with me?’ he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to

her home.

‘You have been trifling with me,’ he cried, ‘I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!’ and he flew away.

All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. ‘Where shall I put up?’ he said; ‘I hope the

town has made preparations.’

Then he saw the statue on the tall column. ‘I will put up there,’ he cried; ‘it is a fine position with plenty of

fresh air.’ So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.

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‘I have a golden bedroom,’ he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but

just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. ‘What a curious thing!’ he

cried, ‘there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The

climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her

selfishness.’

Then another drop fell.

‘What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?’ he said; ‘I must look for a good chimney-pot,’ and

he determined to fly away.

But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw - Ah! what did he see?

The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His

face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.

‘Who are you?’ he said.

‘I am the Happy Prince.’

‘Why are you weeping then?’ asked the Swallow; ‘you have quite drenched me.’

‘When I was alive and had a human heart,’ answered the statue, ‘I did not know what tears were, for I lived

in the palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my

companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very

lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers

called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And

now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my

city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep.’

‘What, is he not solid gold?’ said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks

out loud.

‘Far away,’ continued the statue in a low musical voice, ‘far away in a little street there is a poor house. One

of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and

she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-

flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour to wear at the next Court-ball. In a

bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking for oranges. His mother

has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not

bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I cannot move.’

‘I am waited for in Egypt,’ said the Swallow. ‘My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the

large lotus-flowers. Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his

painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale

green jade, and his hands are like withered leaves.’

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘will you not stay with me for one night, and be my

messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so sad.’

‘I don’t think I like boys,’ answered the Swallow. ‘Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were

two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of course; we

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swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility; but still, it was a

mark of disrespect.’

But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry. ‘It is very cold here,’ he said; ‘but I

will stay with you for one night, and be your messenger.’

‘Thank you, little Swallow,’ said the Prince.

So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword, and flew away with it in his beak over

the roofs of the town.

He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace

and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. ‘How wonderful

the stars are,’ he said to her, and how wonderful is the power of love!’

‘I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball,’ she answered; ‘I have ordered passion-flowers to

be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are so lazy.’

He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto,

and saw the old jews bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he came

to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen

asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble.

Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings. ‘How cool I feel,’ said the

boy, ‘I must be getting better;’ and he sank into a delicious slumber.

Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done. ‘It is curious,’ he

remarked, ‘but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.’

‘That is because you have done a good action,’ said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and

then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.

When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath. ‘What a remarkable phenomenon,’ said the

Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. ‘A swallow in winter!’ And he wrote a long

letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not

understand.

‘To-night I go to Egypt,’ said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the

public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows

chirruped, and said to each other, ‘What a distinguished stranger!’ so he enjoyed himself very much.

When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. ‘Have you any commissions for Egypt?’ he cried; ‘I

am just starting.’

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘will you not stay with me one night longer?’

‘I am waited for in Egypt,’ answered the Swallow. ‘To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second

Cataract. The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God

Memnon. All night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he utters one cry of joy, and

then he is silent. At noon the yellow lions come down to the water’s edge to drink. They have eyes like

green beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the cataract.’

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the prince, ‘far away across the city I see a young man in a garret.

He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered

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violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes.

He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any more. There is no

fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.’

‘I will wait with you one night longer,’ said the Swallow, who really had a good heart. ‘Shall I take him

another ruby?’

‘Alas! I have no ruby now,’ said the Prince; ‘my eyes are all that I have left. They are made of rare

sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him.

He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish his play.’

‘Dear Prince,’ said the Swallow, ‘I cannot do that;’ and he began to weep.

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘do as I command you.’

So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew away to the student’s garret. It was easy enough to

get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room. The young man had

his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird’s wings, and when he looked up he

found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered violets.

‘I am beginning to be appreciated,’ he cried; ‘this is from some great admirer. Now I can finish my play,’

and he looked quite happy.

The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the

sailors hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes. ‘Heave a-hoy!’ they shouted as each chest came up. ‘I

am going to Egypt!’ cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon rose he flew back to the

Happy Prince.

‘I am come to bid you good-bye,’ he cried.

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘will you not stay with me one night longer?’

‘It is winter,’ answered the Swallow, ‘and the chill snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the

green palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My companions are building

a nest in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves are watching them, and cooing to each other.

Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two

beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the

sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.’

‘In the square below,’ said the Happy Prince, ‘there stands a little match-girl. She has let her matches fall in

the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and she

is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to

her, and her father will not beat her.’

‘I will stay with you one night longer,’ said the Swallow, ‘but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be

quite blind then.’

‘Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘do as I command you.’

So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and

slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. ‘What a lovely bit of glass,’ cried the little girl; and she ran

home, laughing.

Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. ‘You are blind now,’ he said, ‘so I will stay with you always.’

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‘No, little Swallow,’ said the poor Prince, ‘you must go away to Egypt.’

‘I will stay with you always,’ said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince’s feet.

All the next day he sat on the Prince’s shoulder, and told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands.

He told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and catch gold fish in their

beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself and lives in the desert, and knows everything; of the

merchants, who walk slowly by the side of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the King

of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and worships a large crystal; of the great green

snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who

sail over a big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the butterflies.

‘Dear little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘you tell me of marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything

is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little

Swallow, and tell me what you see there.’

So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the

beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children

looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one

another’s arms to try and keep themselves warm. ‘How hungry we are!’ they said. ‘You must not lie here,’

shouted the Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.

Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.

‘I am covered with fine gold,’ said the Prince, ‘you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the

living always think that gold can make them happy.’

Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf

after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and

played games in the street. ‘We have bread now!’ they cried.

Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made of silver,

they were so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of the houses,

everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice.

The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well.

He picked up crumbs outside the baker’s door where the baker was not looking, and tried to keep himself

warm by flapping his wings.

But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once

more. ‘Good-bye, dear Prince!’ he murmured, ‘will you let me kiss your hand?’

‘I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘you have stayed too long

here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you.’

‘It is not to Egypt that I am going,’ said the Swallow. ‘I am going to the House of Death. Death is the

brother of Sleep, is he not?’

And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.

At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the

leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost. Early the next morning the

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Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column

he looked up at the statue: ‘Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!’ he said.

‘How shabby indeed!’ cried the Town Councillors, who always agreed with the Mayor, and they went up to

look at it.

‘The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he is golden no longer,’ said the Mayor; ‘in

fact, he is little better than a beggar!’

‘Little better than a beggar’ said the Town councillors.

‘And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!’ continued the Mayor. ‘We must really issue a proclamation

that birds are not to be allowed to die here.’ And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.

So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. ‘As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful,’

said the Art Professor at the University.

Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what

was to be done with the metal. ‘We must have another statue, of course,’ he said, ‘and it shall be a statue of

myself.’

‘Of myself,’ said each of the Town Councillors, and they quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were

quarrelling still.

‘What a strange thing!’ said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. ‘This broken lead heart will not

melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.’ So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was

also lying.

‘Bring me the two most precious things in the city,’ said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought

Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.

‘You have rightly chosen,’ said God, ‘for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore,

and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.’

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

Summary

The story “The Happy Prince” has at least three themes. The first theme of the story is that outward beauty

is nothing. It is just a show. The real beauties are love and sacrifices. The second theme is that love and

sacrifice are two saving forces. The third theme is that there is great gap between the rich and the poor, the

rulers and the masses.

When the happy prince is alive, he lives in a palace where sorrow is not allowed to enter. He lives a life of

happiness. However, when he dies his courtiers set up his statute on a tall column.

The statue of the happy prince sees all the misery of the city. He weeps when he sees people in trouble. He

wants to help them.

A swallow stays at the feet of the statue of the happy prince for the night. On happy prince’s request, he

prolongs his stay and helps the poor with the ruby and the sapphires. When the happy prince cannot see any

more, the swallow decides to stay with the happy prince forever. The he helps the people with the gold

covering of the happy prince. At the end, he dies frost. The heart of the happy prince also breaks.

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Once, the mayor and the town councilors pass by the stature of the happy prince. They are shocked to see it

without ruby, sapphires, and gold covering. It looks ugly without them. They pull it down and decide to

make another statue. The heart of the happy prince not melt in the furnace and the workers throw it on the

dust heap where the dead swallow is already lying. An angel comes and takes both the heart and the dead

Swallow to God as two precious things. (296)

1. “The Happy Prince” is a fairly tale. Discuss.

No doubt, the story “The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale. In a fairly tale we find unreal characters like fairies,

giants, witches and talking animals. It is a story, which is hard to believe. The events of a fairy tale do not

happen in real life. The most important quality of a fairy tale is that it always has a happy conclusion.

When we read the story, we find that it is a perfect fairy tale. It fulfils all the requirements of a fairy tale.

Firstly, we find two imaginary characters – a talking Swallow and a talking statue. In our daily life, we do

not find such characters. Secondly, we see the statue of the Happy Prince shedding tears on the sufferings of

the poor. He has sapphire eyes and a lead heart. However, he can see through these sapphire eyes and has

love and sympathies for the poor in his lead heart. This is highly unbelievable and it does not happen in real

life. A statue has no eyes and no heart.

Thirdly, we see that the Swallow first picks off ruby, sapphires, and then gold covering without any tools.

This is also unbelievable. Fourthly, the end of the story is also fairy tale like. No doubt, the Swallow and the

statue of the Happy Prince are dead and on the dust heap. However, this is not the real ending. The real

ending is that the Swallow will always sing in the garden of Paradise and the Happy Prince will always

praise God in the city of gold. This is quite a happy ending and fulfils the most important requirement of a

fairy tale. Therefore, we can conclude that the story “The Happy Prince” is a perfect fairy tale. (291)

2. How has the writer brought out poverty in the story “The Happy Prince”?

The writer has brought out poverty in a very beautiful manner. The son of the tailor is suffering from fever.

He is thirsty and asking for oranges. However, she is a poor tailor. She cannot buy oranges for her son. She

is embroidering passionflowers for the Queen’s maids-of-honour. Her poverty is very touching. The poverty

of the writers of the Victorian age has also been reflected very beautifully. The young writer is cold and

hungry. Hunger has made him faint.

The little weeping match girl also depicts the poverty of the Victorian age. She has no shoes or stockings,

and her little head is bare. The beggars are sitting at the gates of the houses of the rich people. In dark lanes,

there are children who have white starving faces. They are looking out listlessly at the black streets. People

do not have their own houses go two little boys are lying under the archway of a bridge. It is cold so they are

lying in one another’s arm to keep themselves warm. They are very hungry.

Therefore, all these suggest the poverty of the Victorian age. (187)

3. How has the writer brought out exploitation in the story “The Happy Prince”?

The writer has brought out exploitation very beautifully. The people at court, the Jews, and the rich are

exploiting the poor. The Mayor and the Town Councilors represent the exploitation of the power. The son of

the seamstress is suffering from fever, but she cannot attend to him. She is embroidering passionflowers for

the Queen’s made-of-honour to wear at the next court-ball. The poor are working hard, but they cannot buy

even oranges. This is the worst kind of exploitation.

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On one side, some people are so poor that they are starving and on the other hand the rich are making merry

and the Jews are weighing out money on copper scales. The writers of that time are also being exploited.

They are cold and cold with hunger. The Mayor and the Town Councilors are exploiting their powers. Each

one of them himself wants to have built statue. The Mayor even issues a proclamation that birds are not to

be allowed to die there. This is purely an exploitation of power. (171)

4. How has the writer brought out hypocrisy in the story “The Happy Prince”?

The writer has brought out hypocrisy in the story “The Happy Prince” in a very beautiful manner. One of

the town councilors does not have artistic taste, but he wants to show that he has that artistic taste. He

praises the beauty of the Happy Prince in the most inartistic way. He says that the statue is as beautiful as a

weathercock. His simile shows how ignorant he is. He is so hypocrite that he adds that he is not quite useful

for the fear of the people. Because in those days people believed that art must have had some usefulness,

otherwise it was bad art.

The town councilors are the worst example of hypocrisy. They always agree with the Mayor just to get his

favour. They are so hypocrites that they even repeat the words spoken by the Mayor. When the professor

sees the Swallow, he writes a long letter to the local newspaper. It is full of so many words that people

cannot understand it. However, they still quote it to each other just to show off.

Therefore, this is how the writer shows the hypocrisy of the people. (191)

5. What is the theme of the story “The Happy Prince”?

The story “The Happy Prince” has at least three themes. The first theme of the story is that outward beauty

is nothing it is just a show. The real beauty is the love and sacrifice. The end of the story gives this idea.

The Happy Prince has a lead heart, but this heart is full of sympathies for the poor and the needy. He

sacrifices his eyes and beauty just to help them. He gives away his gold covering bit by bit to the poor. Now

without his eyes and gold covering, he looks so ugly that he is sent to furnace to melt. He has lost outward

beauty, but with sacrifice and love, he has achieved spiritual beauty. God is pleased with him. After his

death, he is taken to the city of gold where he will praise God forever.

The same happens with the Swallow. He sacrifices his life for the love of the Happy Prince. Nevertheless,

he also achieves spiritual beauty. He will sing for evermore in God’s garden of Paradise.

The second theme is that love and sacrifice are two saving forces. This world is full of poverty, hypocrisy,

and exploitation. If there were no love and sacrifice, the world could not go on its axis. It is because of love

and sacrifice that this life is going on. Therefore, it is true that love and sacrifice are two saving forces.

The third theme of the story is that there is great gap between the rich and the poor, the rulers and the

masses. The Happy Prince did not know about the poor and their problems when he was alive. Therefore, it

means that the rulers at that time did not know about the problems and the difficulties of the masses. (295)

6. Why does the Happy Prince weep?

The Happy Prince weeps because he cannot bear the sufferings and the miseries of the poor and the needy.

He weeps because he has a very soft heart, although it is made of lead. This heart had nothing but the

sympathies for the poor and the needy. The writer values this lead heard so much that he tells the reader that

this heart does not melt in the furnace.

The Happy Prince used to live in the Palace of Sans-Souci. Sorrow was not allowed to enter the Palace. At

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that time, the Happy Prince did not know what tears were. In the daytime, he used to play with his

companions in the garden. In the evening, he led the dance in the Great Hall. There was a very lofty wall

around the garden. The Happy Prince did not know that what was beyond that wall. Inside this wall,

everything was beautiful and he was very happy. His courtiers called him Happy Prince. After his death, his

courtiers made his statue and set it up on a very tall column. Now from that height he can see all the

ugliness and all the misery of the city. Therefore, he weeps because he has very soft heart and he cannot

stand the miseries of the people. It is because of this soft heart that he sacrifices his beauty and sapphire

eyes. (229)

7. What did the Swallow tell the Happy Prince about the city and the people?

What did the Swallow report to the Happy Prince about human misery or suffering?

When the Happy Prince gave away his sapphire eyes, he could not see any more. Therefore, he asked the

Swallow to fly over his city and told him what he saw there. The Swallow flew over the great city and

reported to the Happy Prince what he saw.

He told the Happy Prince about the condition of the rich and the poor. The rich were making merry in their

beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. In the dark lanes, he saw the white faces of

starving children. These children were so hungry that they were looking out listlessly at the black streets.

He told the Happy Prince a very miserable thing. He told him about the two boys who were hungry and

homeless. These boys were lying under the archway of a bridge. They were cold so they were lying in one

another’s arms to keep themselves warm, but the watchman did not let those boys lie under the bridge

either. He drove them out into the rain.

Therefore, the Swallow told the Happy Prince about the condition of the rich and the poor. The rich were

hungry and homeless.

When the Happy Prince listened to this, he asked the Swallow to give his gold covering to the poor and the

needy. (216)

8. Discuss the end of the story “The Happy Prince”.

The story “The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale and the end of a fairly tale is always happy. In a fairly tale

characters face difficulties and they endanger their lives to get their desired goals. They face so many

hardships that it appears that they cannot succeed. However, at the end they always succeed and live happily

ever after.

In the story, “The Happy Prince” the end appears tragic. The Swallow and the Happy Prince both die and

are thrown on a dust heap. However, this is not the real end of the story. The Swallow and the Happy Prince

has sacrificed their lives to help the poor and the needy. God is happy with their sacrifices. Therefore, God

rewards them and orders that the Swallow will sing in the garden of paradise and the Happy Prince will

praise him.

Therefore, we see that this is quite a happy ending. It fulfills the most important requirement of a fairy tale.

This end cannot be called a tragic end. (169)

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UNIT II

"The Gift of the Magi."

Setting

.......The action takes place in New York City in a very modest apartment and in a hair shop

down the street from the apartment. Although Porter does not mention New York by name,

he does refer to Coney Island, the city's most famous amusement park, located in the

borough of Brooklyn. Porter lived in New York when he wrote and published the "The Gift

of the Magi."

Characters

Della Young : Pretty young woman who cuts off her beautiful long hair and sells

it to buy a Christmas gift for her husband.

James Dillingham Young: Husband of Della. He sells his gold watch to buy a gift for

Della.

Madame Sofronie: Shop owner who buys Della's hair. .

Type of Work and Year of Publication

.......“The Gift of the Magi” is a short story, one of several hundred written by O. Henry

between 1903 and 1910. It was published in a New York City newspaper in 1905 and in a

collection, The Four Million, in 1906.

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The Gift of the Magi By O. Henry

.......One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.

Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the

butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close

dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the

next day would be Christmas.

.......There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So

Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and

smiles, with sniffles predominating.

.......While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second,

take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar

description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

.......In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric

button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a

card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young." The "Dillingham" had been flung to

the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per

week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred,

as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But

whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called

"Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as

Della. Which is all very good.

.......Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the

window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard.

Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a

present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty

dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They

always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent

planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a

little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.

.......There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-

glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a

rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della,

being slender, had mastered the art.

.......Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were

shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled

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down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

.......Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both

took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his

grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the

airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to

depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his

treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he

passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.

.......So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown

waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did

it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear

or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

.......On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and

with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the

street.

.......Where she stopped the sign read: "Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One flight

up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked

the "Sofronie."

......."Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

......."I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."

.......Down rippled the brown cascade. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with

a practised hand.

......."Give it to me quick," said Della.

.......Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She

was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

.......She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other

like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob

chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not

by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The

Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and

value—the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she

hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious

about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly

on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

.......When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She

got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by

generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth

task.

.......Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her

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look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long,

carefully, and critically.

......."If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll

say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do—oh! what could I do with a

dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

.......At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot

and ready to cook the chops.

.......Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the

table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down

on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little

silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God,

make him think I am still pretty."

.......The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor

fellow, he was only twenty-two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new

overcoat and he was without gloves.

.......Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were

fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified

her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that

she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on

his face.

.......Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

......."Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold

because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out

again—you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry

Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift

I've got for you."

......."You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent

fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

......."Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me

without my hair, ain't I?"

.......Jim looked about the room curiously.

......."You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

......."You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you—sold and gone, too. It's

Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were

numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my

love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

.......Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds

let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight

dollars a week or a million a year—what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would

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give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them.

This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

.......Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

......."Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the

way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if

you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."

.......White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of

joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change tohysterical tears and wails, necessitating the

immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

.......For there lay The Combs—the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped

long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims—just

the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and

her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession.

And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments

were gone.

.......But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes

and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

.......And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

.......Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open

palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent

spirit.

......."Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a

hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

.......Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of

his head and smiled.

......."Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too

nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now

suppose you put the chops on."

.......The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to

the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise,

their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of

duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish

children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their

house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts

these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.

Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

.

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The Three Magi

.......The Magi were the so-called three wise men from the east who traveled to Bethlehem,

following a bright star, to present gifts to the infant Jesus. The term magi (singular, magus)

comes from the Greek word magoi, a rendering of a Persian word for members of a priestly

caste. The Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 2, Verse 11) says: "And entering into the house,

they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening

their treasures, they offered him gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

.......These offerings, though valuable, were not as important as the recognition, respect, and

love they gave the Christ child. Frankincense was used as a treatment for illness and as an

fragrant additive to incense. Myrrh was also added to incense, as well as perfume, and found

additional use as an ointment. The three wise men have been identified in western tradition

as Balthasar, king of Arabia; Melchior, king of Persia; and Gaspar, king of India.

Three: A Magic Number

In "The Gift of the Magi," the number three figures prominently. Consider the following:

The story has three characters: Della, Jim, and Madame Sophronie.

Della counts her money three times (Paragraph 1).

The narrator says that "Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles (Paragraph 2).

The story refers three times to the Youngs' supper entree: chops.

The story mentions the Queen of Sheba, who gave three types of gifts to King

Solomon: spices, gold, and jewels.

A sentence in paragraph 5 says, "She stood by the window and looked out dully at a

grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard.”

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Jim tells Della, I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a

shampoo that could make me like my girl any less.

The narrator alliteratively describes Della as speaking with "suddenserioussweetness."

The were three magi: Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar.

The magi offered three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

According to tradition, the magi were kings of Arabia, Persia, and India.

The story centers on three valuables: Jim's gold watch, Della's hair, and the love Jim

and Della share

Theme: Love .......Della and Jim give each other the best of all possible gifts, love. It does not matter that

Jim no longer has the gold watch to display on the elegant chain that Della gave him. Nor

does it matter that Della no longer has long, luxurious hair to comb with the gift Jim gave

her. What matters is that they have is each other.

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“The Necklace”

Type of Work

.......“The Necklace,” published in 1881, is a short story—among the finest surprise-ending

stories in any language. It is a compact, neat little package with just the right amount of

character and plot development and nary a wasted word. It is one of many of Maupassant’s

short stories that earned him recognition as a master of the genre.

Setting

.......The action takes place in Paris, France, in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Specific locales include the residence of the Loisels, the home of Madame Jeanne Forestier,

the palace of the Ministry of Education, Paris shops, and the streets of Paris, including the

Rue des Martyrs and the Champs Elysées.

Characters

Mathilde:Pretty young woman born into a common, middle-class family. She yearns

for the wealth, privileges, and fashions of highborn young ladies.

Monsieur Loisel: Government clerk whom Mathilde marries.

Madame Jeanne Forestier: Friend of Mathilde. She allows Mathilde to borrow a

necklace to wear to a gala social event.

Housemaid: Girl from Brittany who does the Loisels' housework. Her presence

reminds Mathilde of her own status as a commoner.

Jeweler: Dealer who provides a replacement necklace.

Monsieur and Madame Georges Rampouneau: Minister of Education and his wife,

who invite the Loisels to a party.

Child With Madame Forestier: See number 5 under "Unanswered Questions" for

information about this character.

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Plot Summary

.......Even though Mathilde is pretty and quite charming, she has none of the advantages of

upper-class girls: a dowry, a distinguished family name, an entree into society, and all the

little fineries that women covet. Consequently, she accepts a match made for her with a

clerk, Monsieur Loisel, in the Department of Education.

.......Her home is common and plain, with well-worn furniture. The young girl from Brittany

who does the housework is a constant reminder to Mathilde of her own status as a

commoner. But she dreams of having more: tapestries, bronze lamps, footmen to serve her,

parlors with silk fabrics, perfumed rooms, silver dinnerware, exotic food, jewelry, the latest

fashions.

.......One evening, her husband presents her an envelope containing a special surprise. He is

sure it will please her. Inside the envelope she finds a card inviting her and her husband to a

social affair as guests of the Minister of Education, Georges Rampouneau, and his wife at

the palace of the Ministry of Education.

.......But Mathilde is not at all pleased, for she has nothing to wear. When her husband asks

her what it would cost to buy her suitable attire, she says four hundred francs—the exact

amount he has set aside to buy a gun to shoot larks at Nanterre with friends. However, he

agrees to provide the money, and she buys a gown. When the day of the fête draws near,

Loisel notices that Mathilde is downcast and inquiries into the cause of her low spirits. She

tells him she has no jewels to wear. As a result, others at the party will look down on her.

But her spirits brighten when Monsieur Loisel suggests that she borrow jewels from her

friend, Madame Jeanne Forestier.

.......Wasting no time, Mathilde visits her friend the following day. Madame Forestier, only

too willing to cooperate, opens a box and tells Mathilde to choose. Inside are glittering

jewels. Mathilde selects a diamond necklace so beautiful that it quickens her heartbeat.

.......At the party, Mathilde is the center of attention. Handsome men of high station ask who

she is and line up to dance with her. Not until 4 a.m. do the Loisels leave the palace. On their

way out, Mathilde’s husband puts a wrap on her shoulders—an article of clothing from her

everyday wardrobe. To avoid being seen in it, she hurries out against her husband’s wishes.

He wants to wait for a cab to arrive. Out in the cold, they search for transportation,

wandering toward the Seine. In time, they find a cab, and it takes them to their home on Rue

des Martyrs. In her bedroom, Mathilde stands before a mirror and removes her wrap to gaze

upon the woman who has enchanted so many men. Then she notices to her horror that the

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necklace is missing. She and her husband search through their belongings but cannot find it.

After they conclude that the necklace must have come off on their way home, Monsieur

Loisel goes out to search for the cab they rode in. He returns at 7 a.m. after failing to find it.

Visits to the police and the cab company, as well as other measures, also leave them empty-

handed.

.......At her husband’s suggestion, Mathilde writes to Madame Forestier, telling her that the

necklace clasp has broken and that it is being repaired. This ploy will buy time. Next, they

decide that their only recourse is to replace the necklace. Going from jeweler to jeweler, they

search for a facsimile. They find one in a shop in the Palais Royal. The price: 36,000 francs.

To raise the money, Loisel uses all of his savings and borrows the rest, writing promissory

notes and signing his name on numerous documents. Then the Loisels buy the replacement,

and Mathilde takes it in a case to Madame Forestier. The latter expresses annoyance that it

was returned late, then takes the case without opening it to check its contents.

.......Thereafter, the Loisels scrimp and save to pay their debt. After they dismiss their

housemaid, Mathilde does thwork herself, washing dishes and linen, taking out the garbage,

and performing other menial labors. She also wears common clothes and haggles at the

market. Monsieur Loisel moonlights as a bookkeeper and copyist.

.......Ten years later, they are out of debt. They have paid back every borrowed franc and sou.

By this time, Mathilde is fully a commoner, with rough hands, plain clothes, and disheveled

hair. And she looks older than her years. Occasionally, she thinks back to the day when she

wore the necklace and when so many men admired her. What would have happened if she

had never lost the necklace?

.......One Sunday on the Champs Elysées, she encounters Madame Forestier walking with a

child. When Mathilde addresses her, her friend does not recognize her—so haggard does

Mathilde look. After Mathilde identifies herself, she decides to tell Madame Forestier

everything. What could be the harm? After all, she has paid for the necklace, working ten

long years at honest, humble labor to fulfill her obligation. Madame Forestier then holds

Mathilde’s hands and says, “Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine was false. At most, it was

worth five hundred francs!”

.

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Style

.......In "The Necklace," Maupassant makes every word count, each one contributing to the

overall effectiveness of the story. He provides only minimal details to further the plot and

describe the important characters. The result is a simple, easy-to-understand story that moves

smoothly and swiftly from beginning to end. Details that he leaves out allow the reader to

interpret the events and the characters in his or her own way. One may compare "The

Necklace" to a painting with subtle shades of meaning. Maupassant himself remains aloof

from his characters, passing no judgments on them, neither praising nor condemning them.

For example, it is up to the reader to decide whether Mathilde is a victim of bad luck (or

fate) or of her own warped perception of the world as a place where success and recognition

result from wealth and status.

Fate vs Free Will

.......Is Mathilde a hapless victim of fate or a victim of her own desires and the choices she

makes to fulfill them? In the opening sentence of the story, Maupassant introduces the

notion of fate as a controlling force:

Original French: C'étaitune de cesjolies et charmantesfilles, nées, comme par

uneerreur du destin, dansunefamilled'employés.

Literal Translation: She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, by a mistake

of destiny, into a family of employees (common middle-class workers).

He expands on this idea when Mathilde borrows a necklace of imitation diamonds in the

mistaken belief that they are real. Finally, comes the coup de grâce: She loses the necklace

and replaces it with a lookalike necklace made of genuine diamonds. She and her

husband work ten years to pay for it only to discover that the original necklace was fake in

the first place. All of these developments suggest that Mathilde is the plaything of fate.

However, Maupassant also points out early on that Mathilde longed to live like the highborn.

Fashionable clothes, jewels, a home with spacious rooms and tapestries—all were badges of

success, according to Mathilde's distorted view of the world. In further developing this

idea—that it was perhaps Mathilde's own yearnings, not fate, that got her into trouble, the

narrator says,

Original French: Elle eûttantdésiréplaire, êtreenviée, êtreséduisanteetrecherchée.

Literal Translation: She had so much desire to please, to be envied, to be enticing, to

be sought after.

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In the end, the reader is left to decide for himself whether Mathilde's downfall was of her

own making or fate's—or a combination of both.

Translations by M.J. Cummings

Climax

.......The climax of a literary work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the

turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the

final and most exciting event in a series of events. The climax of "The Necklace" occurs,

according to the first definition, when Mathilde discovers that she has lost the necklace.

According to the second definition, the climax occurs at the end of the story, when Madame

Forestier informs Mathilde that the lost necklace was a fake.

.

Themes

False Values

.......People should evaluate themselves and others on who they are intrinsically (that is, on

their character and moral fiber), not on what they possess or where they stand in society.

MathildeLoisel learns this lesson the hard way.

Real Values

.......Honesty, humility, and hard work are what shape character, not the clothes or jewels

that a person wears or the high station into which he or she is born.

Appearances Are Deceiving

.......MathildeLoisel believed the necklace genuine the moment she saw it. Likewise, she

believed that all the people at the party were real, genuine human beings because of their

social standing and their possessions. The necklace, of course, was a fake. And, Maupassant

implies, so were the people at the party who judge Mathilde on her outward appearance.

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God Sees the Truth, But Waits

In the town of Vladimir lived a young merchant named Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov. He had two

shops and a house of his own.

Aksionov was a handsome, fair-haired, curly-headed fellow, full of fun, and very fond of

singing. When quite a young man he had been given to drink, and was riotous when he had

had too much; but after he married he gave up drinking, except now and then.

One summer Aksionov was going to the Nizhny Fair, and as he bade good-bye to his family, his wife said to him, "Ivan Dmitrich, do not start to-day; I have had a bad dream about you."

Aksionov laughed, and said, "You are afraid that when I get to the fair I shall go on a spree."

His wife replied: "I do not know what I am afraid of; all I know is that I had a bad dream. I

dreamt you returned from the town, and when you took off your cap I saw that your hair was quite grey."

Aksionov laughed. "That's a lucky sign," said he. "See if I don't sell out all my goods, and

bring you some presents from the fair."

So he said good-bye to his family, and drove away.

When he had travelled half-way, he met a merchant whom he knew, and they put up at the same inn for the night. They had some tea together, and then went to bed in adjoining rooms.

It was not Aksionov's habit to sleep late, and, wishing to travel while it was still cool, he

aroused his driver before dawn, and told him to put in the horses.

Then he made his way across to the landlord of the inn (who lived in a cottage at the back), paid his bill, and continued his journey.

When he had gone about twenty-five miles, he stopped for the horses to be fed. Aksionov

rested awhile in the passage of the inn, then he stepped out into the porch, and, ordering a samovar to be heated, got out his guitar and began to play.

Suddenly a troika drove up with tinkling bells and an official alighted, followed by two

soldiers. He came to Aksionov and began to question him, asking him who he was and

whence he came. Aksionov answered him fully, and said, "Won't you have some tea with

me?" But the official went on cross-questioning him and asking him. "Where did you spend

last night? Were you alone, or with a fellow-merchant? Did you see the other merchant this

morning? Why did you leave the inn before dawn?"

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Aksionov wondered why he was asked all these questions, but he described all that had

happened, and then added, "Why do you cross-question me as if I were a thief or a robber? I

am travelling on business of my own, and there is no need to question me."

Then the official, calling the soldiers, said, "I am the police-officer of this district, and I

question you because the merchant with whom you spent last night has been found with his

throat cut. We must search your things."

They entered the house. The soldiers and the police-officer unstrapped Aksionov's luggage

and searched it. Suddenly the officer drew a knife out of a bag, crying, "Whose knife is

this?"

Aksionov looked, and seeing a blood-stained knife taken from his bag, he was frightened.

"How is it there is blood on this knife?"

Aksionov tried to answer, but could hardly utter a word, and only stammered: "I--don't

know--not mine." Then the police-officer said: "This morning the merchant was found in

bed with his throat cut. You are the only person who could have done it. The house was

locked from inside, and no one else was there. Here is this blood-stained knife in your bag

and your face and manner betray you! Tell me how you killed him, and how much money you stole?"

Aksionov swore he had not done it; that he had not seen the merchant after they had had tea

together; that he had no money except eight thousand rubles of his own, and that the knife

was not his. But his voice was broken, his face pale, and he trembled with fear as though he

went guilty.

The police-officer ordered the soldiers to bind Aksionov and to put him in the cart. As they

tied his feet together and flung him into the cart, Aksionov crossed himself and wept. His

money and goods were taken from him, and he was sent to the nearest town and imprisoned

there. Enquiries as to his character were made in Vladimir. The merchants and other

inhabitants of that town said that in former days he used to drink and waste his time, but that

he was a good man. Then the trial came on: he was charged with murdering a merchant from

Ryazan, and robbing him of twenty thousand rubles.

His wife was in despair, and did not know what to believe. Her children were all quite small;

one was a baby at her breast. Taking them all with her, she went to the town where her

husband was in jail. At first she was not allowed to see him; but after much begging, she

obtained permission from the officials, and was taken to him. When she saw her husband in

prison-dress and in chains, shut up with thieves and criminals, she fell down, and did not

come to her senses for a long time. Then she drew her children to her, and sat down near

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him. She told him of things at home, and asked about what had happened to him. He told her all, and she asked, "What can we do now?"

"We must petition the Czar not to let an innocent man perish."

His wife told him that she had sent a petition to the Czar, but it had not been accepted.

Aksionov did not reply, but only looked downcast.

Then his wife said, "It was not for nothing I dreamt your hair had turned grey. You

remember? You should not have started that day." And passing her fingers through his hair, she said: "Vanya dearest, tell your wife the truth; was it not you who did it?"

"So you, too, suspect me!" said Aksionov, and, hiding his face in his hands, he began to

weep. Then a soldier came to say that the wife and children must go away; and Aksionov said good-bye to his family for the last time.

When they were gone, Aksionov recalled what had been said, and when he remembered that

his wife also had suspected him, he said to himself, "It seems that only God can know the truth; it is to Him alone we must appeal, and from Him alone expect mercy."

And Aksionov wrote no more petitions; gave up all hope, and only prayed to God.

Aksionov was condemned to be flogged and sent to the mines. So he was flogged with a

knot, and when the wounds made by the knot were healed, he was driven to Siberia with other convicts.

For twenty-six years Aksionov lived as a convict in Siberia. His hair turned white as snow,

and his beard grew long, thin, and grey. All his mirth went; he stooped; he walked slowly, spoke little, and never laughed, but he often prayed.

In prison Aksionov learnt to make boots, and earned a little money, with which he bought

The Lives of the Saints. He read this book when there was light enough in the prison; and on

Sundays in the prison-church he read the lessons and sang in the choir; for his voice was still

good.

The prison authorities liked Aksionov for his meekness, and his fellow-prisoners respected

him: they called him "Grandfather," and "The Saint." When they wanted to petition the

prison authorities about anything, they always made Aksionov their spokesman, and when

there were quarrels among the prisoners they came to him to put things right, and to judge

the matter.

No news reached Aksionov from his home, and he did not even know if his wife and children were still alive.

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One day a fresh gang of convicts came to the prison. In the evening the old prisoners

collected round the new ones and asked them what towns or villages they came from, and

what they were sentenced for. Among the rest Aksionov sat down near the newcomers, and listened with downcast air to what was said.

One of the new convicts, a tall, strong man of sixty, with a closely-cropped grey beard, was

telling the others what he had been arrested for.

"Well, friends," he said, "I only took a horse that was tied to a sledge, and I was arrested and

accused of stealing. I said I had only taken it to get home quicker, and had then let it go;

besides, the driver was a personal friend of mine. So I said, 'It's all right.' 'No,' said they, 'you

stole it.' But how or where I stole it they could not say. I once really did something wrong,

and ought by rights to have come here long ago, but that time I was not found out. Now I

have been sent here for nothing at all... Eh, but it's lies I'm telling you; I've been to Siberia

before, but I did not stay long."

"Where are you from?" asked some one.

"From Vladimir. My family are of that town. My name is Makar, and they also call me Semyonich."

Aksionov raised his head and said: "Tell me, Semyonich, do you know anything of the

merchants Aksionov of Vladimir? Are they still alive?"

"Know them? Of course I do. The Aksionovs are rich, though their father is in Siberia: a sinner like ourselves, it seems! As for you, Gran'dad, how did you come here?"

Aksionov did not like to speak of his misfortune. He only sighed, and said, "For my sins I

have been in prison these twenty-six years."

"What sins?" asked Makar Semyonich.

But Aksionov only said, "Well, well--I must have deserved it!" He would have said no more,

but his companions told the newcomers how Aksionov came to be in Siberia; how some one

had killed a merchant, and had put the knife among Aksionov's things, and Aksionov had been unjustly condemned.

When Makar Semyonich heard this, he looked at Aksionov, slapped hisown knee, and

exclaimed, "Well, this is wonderful! Really wonderful! But how old you've grown, Gran'dad!"

The others asked him why he was so surprised, and where he had seen Aksionov before; but

Makar Semyonich did not reply. He only said: "It's wonderful that we should meet here, lads!"

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These words made Aksionov wonder whether this man knew who had killed the merchant;

so he said, "Perhaps, Semyonich, you have heard of that affair, or maybe you've seen me

before?"

"How could I help hearing? The world's full of rumours. But it's a long time ago, and I've forgotten what I heard."

"Perhaps you heard who killed the merchant?" asked Aksionov.

Makar Semyonich laughed, and replied: "It must have been him in whose bag the knife was

found! If some one else hid the knife there, 'He's not a thief till he's caught,' as the saying is.

How could any one put a knife into your bag while it was under your head? It would surely

have woke you up."

When Aksionov heard these words, he felt sure this was the man who had killed the

merchant. He rose and went away. All that night Aksionov lay awake. He felt terribly

unhappy, and all sorts of images rose in his mind. There was the image of his wife as she

was when he parted from her to go to the fair. He saw her as if she were present; her face

and her eyes rose before him; he heard her speak and laugh. Then he saw his children, quite

little, as they: were at that time: one with a little cloak on, another at his mother's breast. And

then he remembered himself as he used to be-young and merry. He remembered how he sat

playing the guitar in the porch of the inn where he was arrested, and how free from care he

had been. He saw, in his mind, the place where he was flogged, the executioner, and the

people standing around; the chains, the convicts, all the twenty-six years of his prison life,

and his premature old age. The thought of it all made him so wretched that he was ready to kill himself.

"And it's all that villain's doing!" thought Aksionov. And his anger was so great against

Makar Semyonich that he longed for vengeance, even if he himself should perish for it. He

kept repeating prayers all night, but could get no peace. During the day he did not go near

Makar Semyonich, nor even look at him.

A fortnight passed in this way. Aksionov could not sleep at night, and was so miserable that he did not know what to do.

One night as he was walking about the prison he noticed some earth that came rolling out

from under one of the shelves on which the prisoners slept. He stopped to see what it was.

Suddenly Makar Semyonich crept out from under the shelf, and looked up at Aksionov with

frightened face. Aksionov tried to pass without looking at him, but Makar seized his hand

and told him that he had dug a hole under the wall, getting rid of the earth by putting it into

his high-boots, and emptying it out every day on the road when the prisoners were driven to their work.

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"Just you keep quiet, old man, and you shall get out too. If you blab, they'll flog the life out of me, but I will kill you first."

Aksionov trembled with anger as he looked at his enemy. He drew his hand away, saying, "I

have no wish to escape, and you have no need to kill me; you killed me long ago! As to telling of you--I may do so or not, as God shall direct."

Next day, when the convicts were led out to work, the convoy soldiers noticed that one or

other of the prisoners emptied some earth out of his boots. The prison was searched and the

tunnel found. The Governor came and questioned all the prisoners to find out who had dug

the hole. They all denied any knowledge of it. Those who knew would not betray Makar

Semyonich, knowing he would be flogged almost to death. At last the Governor turned to

Aksionov whom he knew to be a just man, and said:

"You are a truthful old man; tell me, before God, who dug the hole?"

Makar Semyonich stood as if he were quite unconcerned, looking at the Governor and not so

much as glancing at Aksionov. Aksionov's lips and hands trembled, and for a long time he

could not utter a word. He thought, "Why should I screen him who ruined my life? Let him

pay for what I have suffered. But if I tell, they will probably flog the life out of him, and

maybe I suspect him wrongly. And, after all, what good would it be to me?"

"Well, old man," repeated the Governor, "tell me the truth: who has been digging under the wall?"

Aksionov glanced at Makar Semyonich, and said, "I cannot say, your honour. It is not God's

will that I should tell! Do what you like with me; I am your hands."

However much the Governor! tried, Aksionov would say no more, and so the matter had to be left.

That night, when Aksionov was lying on his bed and just beginning to doze, some one came

quietly and sat down on his bed. He peered through the darkness and recognised Makar.

"What more do you want of me?" asked Aksionov. "Why have you come here?"

Makar Semyonich was silent. So Aksionov sat up and said, "What do you want? Go away, or I will call the guard!"

Makar Semyonich bent close over Aksionov, and whispered, "Ivan Dmitrich, forgive me!"

"What for?" asked Aksionov.

"It was I who killed the merchant and hid the knife among your things. I meant to kill you

too, but I heard a noise outside, so I hid the knife in your bag and escaped out of the window."

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Aksionov was silent, and did not know what to say. Makar Semyonich slid off the bed-shelf

and knelt upon the ground. "Ivan Dmitrich," said he, "forgive me! For the love of God,

forgive me! I will confess that it was I who killed the merchant, and you will be released and can go to your home."

"It is easy for you to talk," said Aksionov, "but I have suffered for you these twenty-six

years. Where could I go to now?... My wife is dead, and my children have forgotten me. I have nowhere to go..."

Makar Semyonich did not rise, but beat his head on the floor. "Ivan Dmitrich, forgive me!"

he cried. "When they flogged me with the knot it was not so hard to bear as it is to see you

now ... yet you had pity on me, and did not tell. For Christ's sake forgive me, wretch that I

am!" And he began to sob.

When Aksionov heard him sobbing he, too, began to weep. "God will forgive you!" said he.

"Maybe I am a hundred times worse than you." And at these words his heart grew light, and

the longing for home left him. He no longer had any desire to leave the prison, but only hoped for his last hour to come.

In spite of what Aksionov had said, Makar Semyonich confessed, his guilt. But when the

order for his release came, Aksionov was already dead.

Summary- II

The protagonist of Leo Tolstoy's short story "God Sees The Truth, But Waits" is a carefree

young man named Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov. The fact that he is, at the beginning of the story,

so carefree should serve as fair warning that he will not be this way long. We are further

warned of storm clouds on the horizon of Aksionov's life when his wife -- also young, also

beautiful, but more aware of life's uncertainties -- tells him she has had a bad dream about

him, and asks him not to go to the Nizhny Fair, where he plans to sell his wares. He laughs

at her and goes anyway. But we know, from these first seven paragraphs of Tolstoy's little

tale, that things will not go well with Aksionov from that moment on.

Disaster doesn't surface immediately. Halfway to the fair, Aksionov stops at an inn for the

night and winds up sharing a cup of tea with another merchant whom he knows slightly. The

two merchants go to bed in adjoining rooms. In the morning Aksionov gets up, pays his bill,

and gets back on the road. But twenty-five miles later he is overtaken by soldiers, who

question him about his activities the previous night.

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Aksionov finally asks him why they are treating him as if he's committed a crime, and he is

informed that the merchant with whom he spent the previous evening has been found

murdered and his goods plundered. When the soldiers search Aksionov's bags, they find a

bloody knife.

Predictably, Aksionov is arrested, tried, and convicted of murder. His wife is able to see him

one time before he is exiled to Siberia; after rousing herself from a dead faint at the sight of

him in shackles and chains, she asks him whatever possessed him to murder the stranger on

the way to the fair. His own wife doesn't believe he is innocent.

In Siberia, Aksionov is such a model prisoner that the other convicts call him "The Saint,"

and come to him with their problems and disputes. His life is hard but bearable until a new

prisoner, Makar Semyonich, comes into the camp twenty-six years later. Aksionov learns

that the new man comes from the same home town as Aksionov himself. Makar Semyonich

knows Aksionov's sons well; they are rich and successful merchants, even though it is said

their father is a convict in Siberia. That is the good news. The bad news is that Makar

Semyonich reveals himself to be none other than the true perpetrator of the crime for which

Aksionov is now serving a life sentence.

Aksionov is now torn by conflict. Here is the man responsible for Aksionov's twenty-six

years of misery! Yet what good would come from revealing him to be the murderer now?

The conflict is made even more acute when Makar Semyonich attempts to tunnel out of

prison and his tunnel is discovered. The prisoners are assembled and asked to reveal who

had dug the hole. This is the perfect opportunity for Aksionov to have his revenge on Makar

Semyonich - but he cannot do it. Again, what would be gained? The damage to Aksionov's

life has already been done, and no good can come of making someone else's life worse.

In private that evening, Makar Semyonich comes to Aksionov and begs his forgiveness.

"When they flogged me with the knout it was not so hard to bear as it is to see you now...yet

you had pity on me, and did not tell. For Christ's sake forgive me, wretch that I am!" But

Aksionov says that forgiveness is not his to give, but God's, and "God will forgive

you....Maybe I am a hundred times worse than you."

Here is an odd remark. Throughout this story, Aksionov has never been depicted as anything

but pure of heart. At the beginning of the story, he was carefree and naive; at the end, he is

anything but naive, but he has risen above the pettiness of human concerns to true charity.

How could he be "worse" than this murderer? But as Aksionov tells Makar Semyonich that

God will forgive him, "his heart grew light, and his longing for home left him." Tolstoy

seems to be saying that what makes us sinners is our attachments to material things,

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including our homes, businesses, and families. Even if these things do not actually cause us

to sin, the attachment itself makes the risk of sin immanent, and ties us to earth. Only when

we give up those things can we truly become free. In the very next sentence Aksionov dies,

reunited with his God for whom no material ties are real.

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UNIT III

Oliver Twist

- Dickens

Summary: Chapter 1

Oliver Twist is born a sickly infant in a workhouse. The parish surgeon and a drunken nurse attend his birth.

His mother kisses his forehead and dies, and the nurse announces that Oliver’s mother was found lying in

the streets the night before. The surgeon notices that she is not wearing a wedding ring.

Summary: Chapter 2

So they established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative . . . of being starved by a

gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.

Authorities at the workhouse send Oliver to a branch-workhouse for “juvenile offenders against the poor-

laws.” The overseer, Mrs. Mann, receives an adequate sum for each child’s upkeep, but she keeps most of

the money and lets the children go hungry, sometimes even letting them die.

On Oliver’s ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a minor church official known as the parish beadle, informs Mrs.

Mann that Oliver is too old to stay at her establishment. Since no one has been able to discover his mother’s

or father’s identity, he must return to the workhouse. Mrs. Mann asks how the boy came to have any name

at all. Mr. Bumble tells her that he keeps a list of names in alphabetical order, naming the orphans from the

list as they are born.

Mrs. Mann fetches Oliver. When Mr. Bumble is not looking, she glowers and shakes her fist at the boy, so

he stays silent about the miserable conditions at her establishment. Before Oliver departs, Mrs. Mann gives

him some bread and butter so that he will not seem too hungry at the workhouse.

The workhouse offers the poor the opportunity to starve slowly as opposed to quick starvation on the streets.

For the workhouse, the undertaker’s bill is a major budget item due to the large number of deaths. Oliver

and his young companions suffer the “tortures of slow starvation.” One night at dinner, one child tells the

others that if he does not have another bowl of gruel he might eat one of them. Terrified, the children at the

workhouse cast lots, determining that whoever loses shall be required to ask for more food for the boy.

Oliver loses, and after dinner, the other children insist that Oliver ask for more food at supper. His request

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so shocks the authorities that they offer five pounds as a reward to anyone who will take Oliver off of their

hands.

Summary: Chapter 3

In the parish, Oliver has been flogged and then locked in a dark room as a public example. Mr. Gamfield, a

brutish chimney sweep, offers to take Oliver on as an apprentice. Because several boys have died under his

supervision, the board considers five pounds too large a reward, and they settle on just over three pounds.

Mr. Bumble, Mr. Gamfield, and Oliver appear before a magistrate to seal the bargain. At the last minute, the

magistrate notices Oliver’s pale, alarmed face. He asks the boy why he looks so terrified. Oliver falls on his

knees and begs that he be locked in a room, beaten, killed, or any other punishment besides being

apprenticed to Mr. Gamfield. The magistrate refuses to approve the apprenticeship, and the workhouse

authorities again advertise Oliver’s availability.

Summary: Chapter 4

The workhouse board considers sending Oliver out to sea as a cabin boy, expecting that he would die

quickly in such miserable conditions. However, Mr. Sowerberry, the parish undertaker, takes Oliver on as

his apprentice. Mr. Bumble informs Oliver that he will suffer dire consequences if he ever complains about

his situation. Mrs. Sowerberry remarks that Oliver is rather small. Mr. Bumble assures her that he will grow,

but she grumbles that he will only grow by eating their food. Mrs. Sowerberry serves Oliver the leftovers

that the dog has declined to eat. Oliver devours the food as though it were a great feast. After he finishes,

Mrs. Sowerberry leads him to his bed, worrying that his appetite seems so large.

Summary: Chapter 5

In the morning, Noah Claypole, Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice, wakes Oliver. Noah and Charlotte, the maid,

taunt Oliver during breakfast. Oliver accompanies Sowerberry to prepare for a pauper’s burial. The husband

of the deceased delivers a tearful tirade against his wife’s death. She has starved to death, and although he

once tried to beg for her, the authorities sent him to prison for the offense. The dead woman’s mother begs

for some bread and a cloak to wear for the funeral.

At the graveyard before the funeral, some ragged boys jump back and forth over the coffin to amuse

themselves. Mr. Bumble beats a few of the boys. The clergyman performs the service in four minutes. Mr.

Bumble quickly ushers the grieving family out of the cemetery, and Mr. Sowerberry takes the cloak away

from the dead woman’s mother. Oliver decides that he is not at all fond of the undertaking business.

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Summary: Chapter 6

A measles epidemic arrives, and Oliver gains extensive experience in undertaking. His master dresses him

well so that he can march in the processions. Oliver notes that the relatives of deceased, wealthy, elderly

people quickly overcome their grief after the funeral.

Noah becomes increasingly jealous of Oliver’s speedy advancement. One day, he insults Oliver’s dead

mother. Oliver attacks him in a fit of rage. Charlotte and Mrs. Sowerberry rush to Noah’s aid, and the three

of them beat Oliver and lock him in the cellar.

Summary: Chapter 7

Noah rushes to fetch Mr. Bumble, sobbing so that his injuries from his confrontation with Oliver appear

much worse than they are. Mr. Bumble informs Mrs. Sowerberry that feeding meat to Oliver gives him

more spirit than is appropriate to his station in life. Still enraged, Oliver kicks at the cellar door. Sowerberry

returns home, beats Oliver, and locks him up again. Oliver’s rage dissolves into tears. Early the next

morning, Oliver runs away. On his way out of town, he passes the workhouse where he used to live and sees

an old friend, Dick, in the yard. Dick vows not to tell anyone about Oliver’s flight and bids him a warm

farewell.

Summary: Chapter 8

Oliver decides to walk the seventy miles to London. Hunger, cold, and fatigue weaken him over the next

seven days. In one village, signs warn that beggars will be thrown in jail. Finally, Oliver limps into a small

town just outside London and collapses in a doorway. He is approached by a boy about his own age named

Jack Dawkins, who dresses and acts like a grown man. Jack purchases a large lunch for Oliver and informs

him that he knows a “genelman” in London who will let Oliver stay in his home for free. Oliver learns that

Jack’s nickname is “the Artful Dodger.” He guesses from the Dodger’s appearance that his way of life is

immoral. He plans to ingratiate himself with the gentleman in London and then end all association with

Jack.

That night, the Dodger takes Oliver to a squalid London neighborhood. At a dilapidated house, the Dodger

calls out a password, and a man allows them to enter. The Dodger conducts Oliver into a filthy, black back

room where an “old shrivelled Jew” named Fagin and some boys are having supper. Silk handkerchiefs

hang everywhere. The boys smoke pipes and drink liquor although none appear older than the Dodger.

Oliver takes a share of the dinner and sinks into a deep sleep.

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Summary: Chapter 9

The next morning, Fagin takes out a box full of jewelry and watches. He notices Oliver observing him.

Fagin grabs a bread knife and asks Oliver if he was awake an hour before. Oliver says he was not, and Fagin

regains his kindly demeanor.

The Artful Dodger returns with another boy, named Charley Bates. Fagin asks if they worked hard that

morning. The Dodger produces two pocketbooks, and Charley pulls out four handkerchiefs. Fagin says that

they will have to teach Oliver how to pick out the marks on the handkerchiefs with a needle. Oliver does not

realize he has joined a band of pickpockets, so he believes their jokes about teaching him how to make

handkerchiefs and pocketbooks.

Dodger and Charley practice picking Fagin’s pockets. Two young women, Bet and Nancy, whom the

narrator describes as “remarkably free and agreeable,” drop in for drinks. Fagin gives all of them some

money and sends them out. Fagin lets Oliver practice taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and gives him

a shilling for a job well done.

Summary: Chapter 10

For days, Fagin keeps Oliver indoors practicing the art of picking pockets. Oliver notices that Fagin

punishes the Dodger and Charley if they return home empty-handed. Finally, Fagin sends Oliver out with

the Dodger and Charley to “work.”

After some time, the Dodger notices a wealthy gentleman absorbed in reading at a bookstall. Oliver watches

with horror as Charley and the Dodger sneak up behind the man and steal his handkerchief. He finally

understands the nature of Fagin’s work.

The gentleman turns and sees Oliver running away. Thinking that Oliver is the thief, he raises a cry. The

Dodger and Charley see Oliver running past them, so they join in, crying, “Stop thief!” A large crowd joins

the pursuit. A police officer arrives and grabs Oliver by the collar, ignoring the boy’s protests of his

innocence. The gentleman who was robbed asks the police officer not to hurt Oliver and follows them to the

police station.

Summary: Chapter 11

The officer locks Oliver in a jail cell to await his appearance before Mr. Fang, the district magistrate. Mr.

Brownlow, the gentleman, protests that he does not want to press charges. He thinks he recognizes

something in Oliver’s face, but cannot put his finger on it. Oliver faints in the courtroom, and Mr. Fang

sentences him to three months of hard labor. The owner of the bookstall rushes in and tells Mr. Fang that

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two other boys committed the crime. Oliver is cleared of all charges. Pitying the sickly young Oliver,

Brownlow takes him into a coach and drives away.

Summary: Chapter 12

Oliver is delirious with a fever for days. When he awakes, Brownlow’s kindly housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin, is

watching over him. He says that he feels as if his mother has come to sit by him. The story of Oliver’s

pitiful life brings tears to Mrs. Bedwin’s eyes. Once Oliver is strong enough to sit up, Mrs. Bedwin carries

him downstairs. A portrait of a young woman catches Oliver’s eye and affects him greatly.

Mr. Brownlow drops in to see how Oliver is feeling. Oliver thanks him for his kindness. Brownlow

exclaims with astonishment that Oliver closely resembles the young lady in the portrait. Brownlow’s

exclamation startles Oliver so much that the boy faints.

Summary: Chapter 13

Fagin erupts into a rage when the Dodger and Charley return without Oliver. Fagin tosses a pot of beer at

Charley, but the pot hits Bill Sikes instead. Sikes is a rough, cruel man who makes his living by robbing

houses. They resolve to find Oliver before he reveals their operation to the authorities, and persuade Nancy

to go to the police station to find out what happened to him.

Nancy dresses in nice clothing, and at the police station she pretends to be Oliver’s distraught sister. She

learns that the gentleman from whom the handkerchief was stolen took Oliver home with him to the

neighborhood of Pentonville, because the boy had fallen ill during the trial. Fagin sends Charley, Jack, and

Nancy to Pentonville to find Oliver. Fagin decides to relocate his operation for the night and fills his pockets

with the watches and jewelry from the hidden box after Charley, Nancy, and Jack leave.

Summary: Chapter 14

When Oliver next enters the housekeeper’s room, he notices that the portrait of the lady whom he resembles

is gone. Mrs. Bedwin says that Brownlow removed it because it seemed to worry Oliver. One day,

Brownlow sends for Oliver to meet him in his study. Assuming that Brownlow means to send him away,

Oliver begs to remain as a servant. Brownlow assures Oliver that he wishes to be Oliver’s friend. He asks

Oliver to tell him his history. Before Oliver can begin, Brownlow’s friend, Mr. Grimwig, arrives to visit.

Grimwig, a crotchety old man, hints that Oliver might be a boy of bad habits. Brownlow bears his friend’s

eccentricity with good humor. Mrs. Bedwin brings in a parcel of books delivered by the bookstall keeper’s

boy. Brownlow wishes to send his payment and some returns back with the boy, but he has already gone.

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Grimwig suggests that Brownlow send Oliver but hints that Oliver might steal the payment and the books.

Wishing to prove Grimwig wrong, Brownlow sends Oliver on the errand. It grows dark and Oliver does not

return.

Summary: Chapter 15

Oliver takes a wrong turn on the way to the bookstall. Suddenly, Nancy appears. She tells everyone on the

street that Oliver is her runaway brother who joined a band of thieves, and that she is taking him back home

to their parents. Everyone ignores Oliver’s protests. Bill Sikes runs out of a beer shop, and he and Nancy

drag Oliver through the dark backstreets.

Summary: Chapter 16

Nancy, Sikes, and Oliver arrive at a dilapidated house in a squalid neighborhood. Fagin, the Dodger, and

Charley laugh hysterically at the fancy clothing Oliver is wearing. Oliver calls for help and flees, but Sikes

threatens to set his vicious dog, Bull’s-eye, on him. Nancy leaps to Oliver’s defense, saying that they have

ruined all his good prospects. She has worked for Fagin since she was a small child, and she knows that a

life of disrepute lies in wait for Oliver. Fagin tries to beat Oliver for his escape attempt, and Nancy flies at

Fagin in a rage. Sikes catches Nancy by the wrists, and she faints. They strip Oliver of his clothing,

Brownlow’s money, and the books. Fagin returns Oliver’s old clothing to him and sends him to bed. Oliver

had given the clothing to Mrs. Bedwin, who sold it to a Jew, and the Jew then delivered the clothing to

Fagin and told Fagin where Oliver was.

Summary: Chapter 17

Mr. Brownlow publishes an advertisement offering a reward of five guineas for information about Oliver’s

whereabouts or his past. Mr. Bumble notices it in the paper while traveling to London. He quickly goes to

Brownlow’s home. Mr. Bumble states that, since birth, Oliver has displayed nothing but “treachery,

ingratitude, and malice.” Bumble tells Brownlow that Oliver attacked Noah Claypole without provocation,

and Brownlow decides Oliver is nothing but an impostor. Mrs. Bedwin refuses to believe Mr. Bumble.

Summary: Chapter 18

Fagin leaves Oliver locked up in the house for days. During the daytime, Oliver has no human company.

The Dodger and Charley ask him why he does not just give himself over to Fagin, since the money comes

quickly and easily in their “jolly life.” Fagin gradually allows Oliver to spend more time in the other boys’

company. Sometimes, Fagin himself regales his crew with funny stories of robberies he committed in his

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youth. Oliver often laughs at the stories despite himself. Fagin’s plan has been to isolate Oliver until he

comes to be so grateful for any human contact that he will do whatever Fagin asks.

Summary: Chapter 19

Sikes plans to rob a house, but he needs a small boy for the job. Fagin offers Oliver’s services. Sikes warns

Oliver that he will kill him if he shows any signs of hesitation during the robbery. Sikes arranges to have

Nancy deliver Oliver to the scene. Fagin watches Nancy for any signs of hesitation. Despite her earlier

protests against trapping Oliver in a life of crime, she betrays no further misgivings.

Summary: Chapter 20

Fagin informs Oliver that he will be taken to Sikes’s residence that night. He gives Oliver a book to read.

Oliver waits, shivering in horror at the book’s bloody tales of famous criminals and murderers. Nancy

arrives to take him away. Oliver considers calling for help on the streets. Reading his thoughts on his face,

Nancy warns him that he could get both of them into deep trouble. They arrive at Sikes’s residence, and

Sikes shows Oliver a pistol. He warns Oliver that if he causes any trouble, he will kill him. At five in the

morning, they prepare to leave for the job.

Summary: Chapter 21

Sikes takes Oliver on a long journey to the town of Shepperton. They arrive after dark.

Summary: Chapter 22

Sikes leads Oliver to a ruinous house where his partners in crime, Toby Crackit and Barney, are waiting. At

half past one, Sikes and Crackit set out with Oliver. They arrive at the targeted house and climb over the

wall surrounding it. Only then does Oliver realize that he will be made to participate in a robbery. Horrified,

he begs Sikes to let him go. Sikes curses and prepares to shoot him, but Crackit knocks the pistol away,

saying that gunfire will draw attention.

Crackit clasps his hand over Oliver’s mouth while Sikes pries open a tiny window. Sikes instructs Oliver to

enter through the window and open the street door to let them inside, reminding him that he is within

shooting range all the while. Oliver plans to dash for the stairs and warn the family. Sikes lowers him

through the window. However, the residents of the house awake, and one shoots Oliver’s arm. Sikes pulls

Oliver back through the window. He and Crackit flee with the bleeding Oliver.

Summary: Chapter 23

Mr. Bumble visits Mrs. Corney, the widowed matron of the workhouse, to deliver some wine. Mrs. Corney

offers him tea. Mr. Bumble slowly moves his chair closer to Mrs. Corney’s and kisses her on the lips. An

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old pauper woman interrupts them to report that Old Sally, a woman under Mrs. Corney’s care, is close to

death and wishes to tell Mrs. Corney something. Irritated, Mrs. Corney leaves. Alone in Mrs. Corney’s

room, Mr. Bumble takes “an exact inventory of the furniture.”

Summary: Chapter 24

Mrs. Corney enters Old Sally’s room. The dying woman awakens and asks that her other bedside

companions be sent away. She then confesses that she once robbed a woman in her care. The woman had

been found pregnant on the road, and Sally had attended the childbirth. The woman had given Sally a gold

locket, saying it might lead to people who would care for the child. The child’s name was Oliver. Sally dies,

and Mrs. Corney leaves. She tells the nurses who attended Sally that Sally had nothing to say after all.

Summary: Chapter 25

Crackit arrives at Fagin’s. Fagin has learned from the newspapers that the robbery has failed. Crackit

informs Fagin that Oliver has been shot and claims that the entire population of the area then came after

them. Crackit says that he and Sikes fled, leaving Oliver in a ditch.

Summary: Chapter 26

Fagin rushes into a pub called the Three Cripples to look for a man named Monks. Not finding him, he

hurries to Sikes’s residence. At Sikes’s residence, he finds Nancy, who, in a drunken stupor, reports that

Sikes is hiding. Fagin relates Oliver’s misfortune, and Nancy cries that she hopes Oliver is dead, because

she believes that living with Fagin is worse than death. Fagin replies that Oliver is worth hundreds of

pounds to him. He returns to his house to find Monks waiting for him. Monks asks why Fagin has chosen to

send Oliver out on such a mission rather than make the boy into a simple pickpocket. It becomes clear that

Monks has some interest in Oliver. Monks was looking for Oliver and saw him the day Oliver was arrested.

Moreover, Fagin notes that Monks wants Oliver to be made into a hardened thief. Monks becomes alarmed,

thinking he sees the shadow of a woman. The two stop talking and leave Fagin’s house.

Summary: Chapter 27

Mrs. Corney, flustered, returns to her room. She and Mr. Bumble drink spiked peppermint together. They

flirt and kiss. Bumble mentions that the current master of the workhouse is on his deathbed. He hints that he

could fill the vacancy and marry Mrs. Corney. She blushes and consents. Bumble travels to inform

Sowerberry that his services will be needed for Old Sally. Bumble happens upon Charlotte feeding Noah

Claypole oysters in the kitchen. When Noah tells Charlotte he wants to kiss her, Bumble lectures them for

their immoral ways.

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Summary: Chapter 28

The night after the failed robbery, Oliver awakens delirious. He gets up and stumbles over to the same house

Sikes tried to get him to rob. Inside, Mr. Giles and Mr. Brittles, two servants, regale the other servants with

the details of the night’s events, presenting themselves as intrepid heroes. Oliver’s feeble knock at the door

frightens everyone. Brittles opens the door to find Oliver lying on the stoop. They exclaim that Oliver is one

of the thieves and drag him inside. The niece of the wealthy mistress of the mansion calls downstairs to ask

if the poor creature is badly wounded. She sends Brittles to fetch a doctor and constable while Giles gently

carries Oliver upstairs.

Summary: Chapter 29

The chapter begins with a description of Mrs. Maylie, the mistress of the house at which Oliver is shot. She

is a kindly, old-fashioned elderly woman. Her niece, Miss Rose, is an angelic beauty of seventeen. Mr.

Losberne, the eccentric local bachelor surgeon, arrives in a fluster, stating his wonderment at the fact that

neither woman is dead of fright at having a burglar in their house. He proceeds to attend to Oliver for a long

while. When he returns, he asks the women if they have actually seen the thief. They have not, and, since

Giles has enjoyed the commendations for his bravery, he has not told the women that the thief he shot is a

small boy. The ladies accompany the surgeon to see the culprit for the first time.

Summary: Chapter 30

Upon seeing Oliver, Miss Rose exclaims that he cannot possibly be a burglar unless older, evil men have

forced him into the trade. She begs her aunt not to send the child to prison. Mrs. Maylie replies that she

intends to send him to prison nonetheless. They wait all day for Oliver to awake in order to determine

whether he is a bad child or not. Oliver relates his life history to them that evening, bringing tears to the

eyes of his audience. Mr. Losberne hurries downstairs and asks if Giles and Brittles can swear before the

constable that Oliver is the same boy they saw in the house the night before. Meanwhile, police officers

from London, summoned by Brittles and Giles that morning, arrive to assess the situation.

Summary: Chapter 31

Duff and Blathers, the officers, examine the crime scene, while the surgeon and the women try to think of a

way to conceal Oliver’s part in the crime. The officers determine that two men and a boy were involved,

judging from the footprints and the size of the window. Mr. Losberne tells them that Giles merely mistook

Oliver for the guilty party. He tells them that Oliver was wounded accidentally by a spring-gun while

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trespassing on a neighbor’s property. Giles and Brittles state that they cannot swear that he is the boy they

saw that night. The officers depart and the matter is settled without incident.

Summary: Chapter 32

Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds of pain-worn dwellers in close and noisy

places, and carry their own freshness deep into their jaded hearts!

Over a period of weeks, Oliver slowly begins to recover. He begs for some way to repay his benefactors’

kindness. They tell him he can do so after he recovers his health. He laments not being able to tell

Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin what has happened to him. Mr. Losberne takes Oliver to London to see them.

To Oliver’s bitter disappointment, he and Losberne discover that Brownlow, Mrs. Bedwin, and Mr.

Grimwig have moved to the West Indies. Mrs. Maylie and Miss Rose then take him to the countryside. In

the blissful rural environment, Oliver’s health improves vastly, as do his reading and writing skills. He and

the ladies become greatly attached to each other during the months they spend there.

Summary: Chapter 33

Without warning, Rose falls ill with a serious fever. Mrs. Maylie sends Oliver to mail a letter requesting

Losberne’s assistance. On his return journey, Oliver stumbles against a tall man wrapped in a cloak. The

man curses Oliver, asks what he is doing there, and then falls violently to the ground, “writhing and

foaming.” Oliver secures help for the man before he returns home and forgets the incident entirely. Rose’s

condition declines rapidly. Losberne arrives and examines her. He states there is little hope for her recovery.

However, Rose soon draws back from the brink of death and begins to improve.

Summary: Chapter 34

Giles and Harry Maylie, Mrs. Maylie’s son, arrive to see Rose. Harry is angry that his mother has not

written him sooner. Mrs. Maylie replies that Rose needs long-lasting love rather than the whims of a

youthful suitor. Mrs. Maylie tells her son that he must consider the public opinion in his desire to marry

Rose for love. She mentions a “stain” on Rose’s name: although Rose herself has never committed any

crime, public opinion may well convict her for the misdeeds of her parents. Mrs. Maylie hints that Rose’s

social status may thwart Harry’s ambitions to run for Parliament and that those thwarted ambitions might

eventually destroy his love for Rose. In the short run, Mrs. Maylie says, he must choose between his

prospects for material gain and his love for Rose. In the long run, however, there is no choice at all, in Mrs.

Maylie’s opinion: the negative judgment of society is powerful enough to defeat love. Harry declares that

his love for Rose is solid and lasting. While Rose recovers, Oliver and Harry collect flowers for her room.

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One day Oliver falls asleep while reading by a window. He has a nightmare that Fagin and a man are

pointing at him and whispering. Fagin says, “It is he, sure enough!” Oliver awakes to see Fagin and the

stranger he saw when he mailed the letter peering through the window. They disappear rapidly as Oliver

calls for help.

Summary: Chapter 35

Harry and Giles rush to Oliver’s aid. Upon hearing about Fagin and the man, they search the fields around

the house but find no trace of them. They circulate a description of Fagin but find no clues to his

whereabouts. Harry declares his love to Rose. Although she returns his love, she says she cannot marry him

owing to the circumstances of her birth. His station is much higher than hers, and she does not want to

hinder his ambitions. Harry states that he plans to propose marriage one more time, but that, if she again

refuses, he will not mention it again.

Summary: Chapter 36

Before Harry and Losberne depart, Harry asks that Oliver secretly write him a letter every two weeks,

telling him everything Oliver and the ladies do and say. From a window, Rose tearfully watches the coach

carry Harry and Losberne away.

Summary: Chapter 37

The narrator tells us that Mr. Bumble has married Mrs. Corney and become the master of the workhouse. He

regrets giving up his position as beadle, but regrets giving up his bachelorhood even more. After a morning

of bickering with his wife, he stops in a pub for a drink. A man in a dark cape is sitting there, and he

recognizes Mr. Bumble as the former beadle. He offers Mr. Bumble money for information about Old Sally,

the woman who attended Oliver’s birth. Mr. Bumble informs him that Old Sally is dead but mentions that he

knows a woman who spoke to the old woman on her deathbed. The stranger asks that Mr. Bumble bring this

woman to see him the following evening. He gives his name as Monks.

Summary: Chapter 38

During a storm, Mr. and Mrs. Bumble travel to a sordid section of town near a swollen river to meet Monks

in a decaying building. While Mr. Bumble shivers in fear, Mrs. Bumble coolly bargains with Monks. They

settle on a price of twenty-five pounds for her information. Mrs. Bumble relates how Old Sally robbed

Oliver’s mother. Mrs. Bumble says she discovered a ragged pawnbroker’s receipt in Old Sally’s dead hands

and that she redeemed it for the gold locket, which she then hands to Monks. Inside, he finds a wedding ring

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and two locks of hair. The name “Agnes” is engraved on the ring, along with a blank for the surname.

Monks ties the locket to a weight and drops it into the river.

Summary: Chapter 39

Bill Sikes is ill with a fever. Nancy nurses him anxiously, despite his surly attitude. Fagin and his friends

drop in to deliver wine and food. Sikes demands that Fagin give him money. Nancy and Fagin travel to

Fagin’s haunt. He is about to delve into his store of cash when Monks arrives and asks to speak to Fagin

alone. The two men leave for a secluded room, but Nancy follows them and eavesdrops. The narrator does

not reveal the content of the conversation. After Monks departs, Fagin gives Nancy the money. Perturbed by

what she has heard, she dashes into the streets and away from Sikes’s residence before returning to deliver

the money. Sikes does not notice her nervousness until a few days later. Sensing something, he demands

that she sit by him. After he falls asleep, she hurries to a hotel in a wealthy area. She begs the servants to

allow her to speak to Miss Maylie, who is staying there. Disapprovingly, they conduct her upstairs.

Summary: Chapter 40

Pity us, lady—pity us for having only one feeling of the woman left and for having that turned . . . from a

comfort and a pride into a new means of violence and suffering.

Nancy confesses to Rose that she is the one who kidnapped Oliver on his errand for Mr. Brownlow. She

relates that she overheard Monks tell Fagin that he is Oliver’s brother. Monks wants Oliver’s identity to

remain unknown so that Monks himself can claim their family’s full inheritance. Monks would kill Oliver if

he could do so without endangering himself. He has also promised to pay Fagin if Oliver is recaptured. Rose

offers to help Nancy leave her life of crime. Nancy replies that she cannot, because she is attached to Sikes

despite his abusive ways. She refuses Rose’s money. Before leaving, Nancy informs Rose that she can be

found on London Bridge between eleven and twelve every Sunday night in case further testimony is needed.

Summary: Chapter 41

Not long after Nancy and Rose’s meeting, Oliver tells Rose that he saw Mr. Brownlow on the street. Oliver

and Mr. Giles have ascertained Brownlow’s address, so Rose immediately takes Oliver there. Mr. Grimwig

is visiting when they arrive. Rose tells Brownlow that Oliver wants to thank him. Once Rose and Brownlow

are alone, she relates Nancy’s story. Oliver is brought in to see Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin. After their

happy reunion, Brownlow and Rose relay Nancy’s information to Mrs. Maylie and Losberne. Brownlow

asks if he can include Grimwig in the matter, and Losberne insists that they include Harry. They agree to

keep everything a secret from Oliver and decide to contact Nancy the following Sunday on London Bridge.

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Summary: Chapter 42

Noah Claypole and Charlotte flee to London after robbing Mr. Sowerberry. They stop at the Three Cripples

inn, where they meet Fagin and Barney. Fagin invites Noah to join his gang, assigning him to rob children.

Summary: Chapter 43

Noah meets Fagin at his home. The Artful Dodger has been arrested for attempting to pick a pocket. Noah’s

first job is to go to the police station to watch the Dodger’s trial. The Dodger, joking all the while, is

convicted and sentenced to transportation. Noah hurries back to tell Fagin.

Summary: Chapter 44

Fagin is visiting Sikes when Nancy tries to leave for London Bridge at eleven on Sunday. Sikes drags her

into another room and restrains her for an hour. When he departs, Fagin asks that Nancy conduct him

downstairs. He whispers to her that he will help her leave the brute Sikes if she wants. Fagin imagines that

Nancy has wanted to meet a new lover that night. He hopes to persuade her to murder Sikes and bring her

new love into his gang, so he can solidify his control over her. He plans to watch her in order to discover the

identity of her new love, hoping to blackmail her with this information.

Summary: Chapter 45

Fagin tells Noah that he will pay him a pound to follow Nancy. The following Sunday, when Sikes is away,

he takes Noah to Sikes’s residence. At eleven, Nancy leaves the apartment. Noah follows at a discreet

distance.

Summary: Chapter 46

Nancy meets Mr. Brownlow and Rose on London Bridge and leads them to a secluded spot. Noah hears

Nancy beg them to ensure that none of her associates get into trouble because of her choice to help Oliver.

They agree, and Nancy tells them when they will most likely see Monks visiting the public house. They

hope to catch Monks and force the truth about Oliver from him. Nancy’s description of Monks startles Mr.

Brownlow, who appears to know him. Brownlow begs Nancy to accept their help, but she says that she is

chained to her life. He and Rose depart. Nancy cries violently and then heads for home. Noah hurries to

Fagin’s house.

Summary: Chapter 47

When Sikes delivers stolen goods to Fagin that night, Fagin and Noah relate the details of Nancy’s trip.

Fagin does not tell Sikes that Nancy insisted that her associates not get into trouble. In a rage, Sikes rushes

home and beats Nancy to death while she begs for mercy.

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Summary: Chapter 48

He threw himself upon the road—on his back upon the road. At his head it stood, silent, erect, and still—a

living grave-stone, with its epitaph in blood.

In the morning, Sikes flees London, seeing suspicious looks everywhere. He stops at a country inn to eat.

Seeing a bloodstain on Sikes’s hat, a salesman grabs it to demonstrate the quality of his stain remover. Sikes

flees the inn. He overhears some men talking about the murder at the post office. He wanders the road,

haunted by the image of Nancy’s dead eyes. A local barn catches fire, and Sikes helps put out the fire. Sikes

decides to return to London and hide. Afraid that his dog, Bull’s-eye, will give him away, he tries to drown

the animal, but it escapes.

Summary: Chapter 49

Mr. Brownlow has captured Monks and brought him to the Brownlow home. Monks’s real name is Edward

Leeford. Brownlow was a good friend of Monks’s father, Mr. Leeford. Mr. Leeford was a young man when

his family forced him to marry a wealthy older woman. The couple eventually separated but did not divorce,

and Edward and his mother went to Paris. Meanwhile, Mr. Leeford fell in love with Agnes Fleming, a

retired naval officer’s daughter, who became pregnant with Oliver. The relative who had benefited most

from Mr. Leeford’s forced marriage repented and left Mr. Leeford a fortune. Mr. Leeford left a portrait of

his beloved Agnes in Brownlow’s care while he went to Rome to claim his inheritance. Mr. Leeford’s wife,

hearing of his good fortune, traveled with Edward to meet him there. However, in Rome, Mr. Leeford took

ill and died. Brownlow reports that he knows that Monks’s mother burned Mr. Leeford’s will, so Mr.

Leeford’s newfound fortune fell to his wife and son. After his mother died, Monks lived in the West Indies

on their ill-gotten fortune. Brownlow, remembering Oliver’s resemblance to the woman in the portrait, had

gone there to find Monks after Oliver was kidnapped. Meanwhile, the search for Sikes continues.

Summary: Chapter 50

Toby Crackit and Tom Chitling flee to a squalid island after Fagin and Noah are captured by the authorities.

Sikes’s dog shows up at the house that serves as their hiding place. Sikes arrives soon after. Charley Bates

arrives and attacks the murderer, calling for the others to help him. The search party and an angry mob

arrive demanding justice. Sikes climbs onto the roof with a rope, intending to lower himself to escape in the

midst of the confusion. However, he loses his balance when he imagines that he sees Nancy’s eyes before

him. The rope catches around his neck, and he falls to his death with his head in an accidental noose.

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Summary: Chapter 51

Oliver and his friends travel to the town of his birth, with Monks in tow, to meet Mr. Grimwig. There,

Monks reveals that he and his mother found a letter and a will after his father’s death, both of which they

destroyed. The letter was addressed to Agnes Fleming’s mother, and it contained a confession from Leeford

about their affair. The will stated that, if his illegitimate child were a girl, she should inherit the estate

unconditionally. If it were a boy, he would inherit the estate only if he committed no illegal or guilty act.

Otherwise, Monks and his mother would receive the fortune. Upon learning of his daughter’s shameful

involvement with a married man, Agnes’s father fled his hometown and changed his family’s name. Agnes

ran away to save her family the shame of her condition, and her father died soon thereafter of a broken

heart. His other small daughter was taken in by a poor couple who died soon after. Mrs. Maylie took pity on

the little girl and raised her as her niece. That child is Rose. Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Bumble confess to their

part in concealing Oliver’s history, and Mr. Brownlow ensures that they never hold public office again.

Harry has given up his political ambitions and vowed to live as a poor clergyman. Knowing that she no

longer stands in the way of Harry’s ambitions, Rose agrees to marry him.

Summary: Chapter 52

Fagin is sentenced to death for his many crimes. On his miserable last night alive, Brownlow and Oliver

visit him in his jail cell to find out the location of papers verifying Oliver’s identity, which Monks had

entrusted to Fagin.

Summary: Chapter 53

[W]ithout strong affection and humanity of heart, and gratitude to that Being whose code is Mercy and

whose great attribute is Benevolence . . . happiness can never be attained.

Noah is pardoned because he testifies against Fagin. Charley turns to an honest life and becomes a

successful grazier, a person who feeds cattle before they are taken to market. Brownlow arranges for

Monks’s property to be divided between Monks and Oliver. Monks travels to the New World, where he

squanders his share of the inheritance and lives a sordid life that lands him in prison, where he dies.

Brownlow adopts Oliver as his son. He, Losberne, and Grimwig take up residence near the rural church over

which Harry presides.

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Oliver Twist Summary

Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan, Oliver, and his attempts to stay good in a society that refuses to

help. Oliver is born in a workhouse, to a mother not known to anyone in the town. She dies right after giving

birth to him, and he is sent to the parochial orphanage, where he and the other orphans are treated terribly

and fed very little. When he turns nine, he is sent to the workhouse, where again he and the others are

treated badly and practically starved. The other boys, unable to stand their hunger any longer, decide to

draw straws to choose who will have to go up and ask for more food. Oliver loses. On the appointed day,

after finishing his first serving of gruel, he goes up and asks for more. Mr. Bumble, the beadle, and the

board are outraged, and decide they must get rid of Oliver, apprenticing him to the parochial undertaker, Mr.

Sowerberry. It is not great there either, and after an attack on his mother’s memory, Oliver runs away.

Oliver walks towards London. When he is close, he is so weak he can barely continue, and he meets another

boy named Jack Dawkins, or the artful Dodger. The Dodger tells Oliver he can come with him to a place

where a gentleman will give him a place to sleep and food, for no rent. Oliver follows, and the Dodger takes

him to an apartment in London where he meets Fagin, the aforementioned gentleman, and Oliver is offered

a place to stay. Oliver eventually learns that Fagin’s boys are all pickpockets and thieves, but not until he is

wrongfully accused of their crime of stealing an old gentleman’s handkerchief. He is arrested, but the

bookseller comes just in time to the court and says that he saw that Oliver did not do it. The gentleman

whose handkerchief was taken, Mr. Brownlow, feels bad for Oliver, and takes him in.

Oliver is very happy with Mr. Brownlow, but Fagin and his co-conspirators are not happy to have lost

Oliver, who may give away their hiding place. So one day, when Mr. Brownlow entrusts Oliver to return

some books to the bookseller for him, Nancy spots Oliver, and kidnaps him, taking him back to Fagin.

Oliver is forced to go on a house-breaking excursion with the intimidating Bill Sikes. At gun point Oliver

enters the house, with the plan to wake those within, but before he can, he is shot by one of the servants.

Sikes and his partner escape, leaving Oliver in a ditch. The next morning Oliver makes it back to the house,

where the kind owner, Mrs. Maylie, and her beautiful niece Rose, decide to protect him from the police and

nurse him back to health.

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Oliver slowly recovers, and is extremely happy and grateful to be with such kind and generous people, who

in turn are ecstatic to find that Oliver is such a good-natured boy. When he is well enough, they take him to

see Mr. Brownlow, but they find his house empty—he has moved to the West Indies. Meanwhile, Fagin and

his mysterious partner Monks have not given up on finding Oliver, and one day Oliver wakens from a

nightmare to find them staring at him through his window. He raises the alarm, but they escape.

Nancy, overhearing Fagin and Monks, decides that she must go to Rose Maylie to tell her what she knows.

She does so, telling Rose that Monks is Oliver’s half-brother, who has been trying to destroy Oliver so that

he can keep his whole inheritance, but that she will not betray Fagin or Sikes. Rose tells Mr. Brownlow,

who tells Oliver’s other caretakers, and they decide that they must meet Nancy again to find out how to find

Monks.

They meet her on London Bridge at a prearranged time, but Fagin has become suspicious, and has sent his

new boy, Noah Claypole, to spy on Nancy. Nancy tells Rose and Mr. Brownlow how to find Monks, but

still refuses to betray Fagin and Sikes, or to go with them. Noah reports everything to Fagin, who tells Sikes,

knowing full well that Sikes will kill Nancy. He does. Mr. Brownlow has in the meantime found Monks,

who finally admits everything that he has done, and the true case of Oliver’s birth.

Sikes is on the run, but all of London is in an uproar, and he eventually hangs himself accidentally in falling

off a roof, while trying to escape from the mob surrounding him. Fagin is arrested and tried, and, after a visit

from Oliver, is executed. Oliver, Mr. Brownlow, and the Maylies end up living in peace and comfort in a

small village in the English countryside.

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Oliver Twist Character List

Oliver Twist

Oliver is a young, good-hearted, and kind--but often mistreated--orphan who is raised in a workhouse, and

finds himself indentured to an undertaker, living with thieves, and eventually taken in by the kind Mr.

Brownlow and Mrs. Maylie. His generosity of spirit is total, and even when faced with serious

maltreatment, he never loses his sense of morality or kindness.

Fagin

A very old man, with a villainous-looking and repulsive face, Fagin is the leader of a gang of boy thieves,

and a very greedy and vicious man. It is Fagin who tries to turn Oliver into a thief, and who betrays Nancy

to Sikes, leading to her death.

Mr. Brownlow

Mr. Brownlow is a very respectable-looking elderly gentleman, who has had his heart broken many times,

including losing his fiancee on the day of their wedding. He takes a liking to Oliver even after suspecting

him of stealing his handkerchief, and takes him in, doing everything he can to help him.

Nancy

Nancy is a young woman and prostitute raised into that profession by Fagin. Nancy eventually betrays Fagin

and Sikes to save Oliver, but she will not leave them, and pays her life for this decision.

Bill Sikes

A stoutly-built man in his thirties, Bill is a vicious housebreaker and thief who often works with Fagin, and

is involved with Nancy. He often mistreats, and eventually kills her.

Rose Maylie

Rose is Mrs. Maylie’s niece, a beautiful seventeen-year-old woman, who is both intelligent and perfectly

kind. She is an orphan who is taken in by Mrs. Maylie, and ends up marrying Harry Maylie.

Mr. Bumble

Mr. Bumble is the beadle of the parish, a fat and choleric man who takes great joy in abusing those below

him, and is often offended by their impositions on him.

Edward Leeford

Edward is Oliver’s half-brother, who goes by the alias Monks for most of the novel. He offers to pay Fagin

to corrupt Oliver, so that he may have Oliver’s inheritance. He is in his late twenties, but haggard in

appearance, with extremely deep set eyes, and suffers from fits.

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Mrs. Maylie

Mrs. Maylie is an older lady, who despite her age is very dignified and stately. She is the owner of the

mansion that Sikes and Crackit attempt to rob, the mother of Harry Maylie and the adopted aunt of Rose

Maylie. In her kindness, she takes Oliver in.

Jack Dawkins

Jack Dawkins is better known as the artful Dodger, he is common looking enough but with the airs and

manners of a man, although he is about Oliver’s age. He is Fagin’s best pickpocket, and it is he who finds

Oliver and leads him to London and to Fagin’s place.

Charley Bates

Charley Bates is a sprightly young friend of the Dodger’s and another of Fagin’s boys. He is very excitable,

and laughs often. Other than Oliver, he is the only of Fagin’s boys to end up making an honest living.

Mrs. Corney

Mrs. Corney, later Mrs. Bumble, is the matron of the workhouse at which Oliver was born. She has been a

widow for twenty-five years, and ends up marrying, dominating and humiliating Mr. Bumble.

Mr. Losberne

Mr. Losberne is the doctor who tends to Oliver after the shooting, an eccentric, kind, hearty and fat

gentleman, who often acts without forethought, but is universally liked. He agrees to help the ladies try to

protect Oliver.

Mrs. Bedwin

Mrs. Bedwin is Mr. Brownlow’s housekeeper. She is a kind and motherly old lady who takes care of Oliver

in his illness, and never doubts his honesty even when he disappears with Mr. Brownlow’s books and

money.

Mr. Grimwig

Mr. Grimwig is an old friend of Mr. Brownlow’s, who is a little rough in manners, but a worthy man. He is

a stout old gentleman who talks something like a parrot and has a strong taste for contradiction, and

threatening to eat his own head.

Noah Claypole

Noah is a charity-boy with a fierce look who works for the undertaker and enjoys bullying Oliver. He later,

with Charlotte, steals from the Sowerberrys and runs away to London, where he joins Fagin’s gang.

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Harry Maylie

Harry is Mrs. Maylie’s son. He is about 25, has a frank and handsome face and an easy demeanor, and is

deeply in love with Rose. Although first ambitious, he chooses to be come a country cleric so that he will be

on Rose’s level, and she will agree to marry him.

Mr. Giles

Mr. Giles is a rather fat man who works as butler and steward to Mrs. Maylie. He shoots Oliver during the

robbery, which he is at first very proud of, then very guilty about.

Toby Crackit

Bill Sikes’s partner in crime, Toby is known for his flashiness and ability to seduce servants into helping

him and Sikes break in.

Mr. Sowerberry

Mr. Sowerberry is the parochial undertaker, a tall and gaunt man, who takes Oliver on as an indentured

servant. He rather likes Oliver, but cannot stand up to his wife’s hatred of the orphan.

Mrs. Sowerberry

Mrs. Sowerberry is the undertaker’s wife, a short, thin woman with a vixenish countenance, who has a

strong dislike for Oliver, and treats him accordingly.

Mr. Brittles

Mr. Brittles is a short and heavy man who has worked for Mrs. Maylie since he was a child as a “lad of all-

work.” Everyone in the household still considers him a boy, although he is in his thirties.

Barney

Barney is the waiter at The Three Cripples. He has a very nasal voice and also works for Toby Crackit.

Charlotte

The Sowerberry’s servant, Charlotte will do anything for Noah Claypole, including stealing twenty pounds

from the Sowerberry’s and running away to London.

Tom Chitling

Another of Fagin’s boys, Chitling is eighteen, but not as accomplished a thief as the Dodger, and has just

come from spending six weeks in jail.

Mr. Blathers

Mr. Blathers is an officer from Bow Street, a stout man of about fifty, who comes to Mrs. Maylie’s after the

robbery.

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Mr. Duff

Mr. Duff is an officer from Bow Street, a red-headed, bony man with a sinister expression, who comes to

Mrs. Maylie’s after the robbery.

Dick

Dick is a young companion of Oliver’s at the workhouse, who blesses Oliver as he runs away from the

undertaker’s. Dick dies before Oliver can come back to save him.

Betsy

Betsy is a young woman prostitute who visits at Fagan's. Sheis a little messy and not quite pretty, but free

and easy and hearty. She goes crazy when she sees Nancy's dead body.

Mrs. Mann

Mrs. Mann runs the orphanage where Oliver grows up. She keeps for herself most of the money allotted by

the parish for the care of the orphans, and neglects them rather steadily.

Mrs. Thingummy

Also known as Old Sally, Mrs. Thingummy is an old woman pauper who acts as nurse during Oliver’s

delivery, while having had a little too much beer. She steals a locket from Oliver’s dead mother, which

holds the key to his identity.

Mr. Fang

Mr. Fang is the magistrate to whom Oliver is taken when accused of stealing the handkerchief. He is a lean,

long-backed, stiff-necked, middle-sized balding man, with a stern and flushed face.

The bookstall keeper

The bookstall keeper is the man who saw the robbing of Mr. Brownlow, and convinces Mr. Fang to drop the

charges against Oliver.

Mr. Kags

Mr. Kags is a fifty-year-old robber and ex-convict with a scarred face, who is companions with Toby

Crackit

Mr. Gamfield

Mr. Gamfield is a chimney sweep who is in debt to his landlord, and so is intrigued by the workhouse’s

offer of Oliver and, more importantly, five pounds. He is a very cruel man who has already caused the death

of several young chimneysweeps apprenticed to him.

Mr. Lively

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Mr. Lively is a small man who works in Saffron Hill, buying and selling stolen goods.

The master

The master is a fat, healthy man, who is in charge of giving out the food at the workhouse.

Mr. Limbkins

Mr. Limbkins is a member of the board of the workhouse.

Oliver Twist Themes

Institutional cruelty

The cruelty of institutions and bureaucracies toward the unfortunate is perhaps the preeminent theme of

Oliver Twist, and essentially what makes it a social novel. Dickens wrote the book largely in response to the

Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which represented the government's both passive and active cruelty to

the poor and helpless. Although institutions show both passive and active cruelty in Oliver Twist, active

cruelty is more prevalent, a move that serves to exaggerate and thus satirize this cruelty and make it seem

intentional.

The cruelty of these institutions, however, is not separated from the cruelty of individuals. Although the

parochial board that decides Oliver�s future carelessly and without sympathy is largely anonymous, the

man in the white jacket generally voices the specific cruel sentiments, so that they are not presented as

having come from nowhere, or just from laws, but from the individuals in power. Similarly, Mr. Bumble is

often directly involved in the institutional unkindness that Oliver faces. This cruelty is not nameless or

faceless, it is just so prevalent that not all the perpetrators can be named.

Mob mentality

The horrifying power of mob mentality is also an important theme in Oliver Twist, and one that is closely

related to that of institutional cruelty. Institutional cruelty can be seen to be an example of a specific kind of

mob mentality—not literally, but a mob in which individuals are not held accountable for their actions, and

so can be as heartless as they like, with the blank face of the bureaucracy to cover them.

Similarly, the mobs in Oliver Twist all take on lives of their owns, so that the individuals within them can

display their cruelest character. We see mobs act against Oliver, the most striking example of which is when

he is accused of stealing Mr. Brownlow’s handkerchief. We also see mobs act against the antagonists in the

novel. Bill Sikes becomes a victim of a mob, and although we know that he is guilty, as opposed to Oliver,

there is still an eerie similarly between Sikes’s mob and Oliver’s, that reminds us how easily such a mob can

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turn against anyone, whether or not that someone is truly guilty. Thus even when the mob is on the side of

justice, and is "correct", Dickens illuminates the danger of the mentality.

The importance of upbringing

Proper upbringing, posited as essential throughout the novel, is illuminated best in the scene where Nancy

and Rose first meet. In this scene, Dickens juxtaposes the prostitute Nancy to the angelic and utterly perfect

Rose. Nancy’s potential for goodness is clear, made so by her very presence there among other things, but

from youth she has been surrounded by liars and thieves, and although she transcends their ranks morally,

she cannot escape from them, nor become the person she could have had she had any of the advantages that

Rose did. Rose, too, comes from a rather ignominious background, but from an early age she was raised by

the kind and loving Mrs. Maylie, who also offered her all the resources she could desire - and so she became

an example of the "perfect" female.

Oliver manages to rise above his upbringing. Surrounded by selfish, ignorant and cruel people for most of

his childhood, given no love, care, or tenderness, he still manages to maintain his kind disposition, and

never gives into the low morals of those around him. He is, however, meant to be the exception that proves

the rule. The fact that his happy ending is so very miraculous proves how important it is to be loved and

cared for in childhood.

The powerlessness of children

Dickens is deeply interested in the plight of the powerless in Oliver Twist, and children are the primary

symbol of this. Oliver is continually reliant on and overpowered by others—Mr. Bumble, Fagin and Sikes,

the mobs and people in the street, even Nancy. Although he works hard to survive, it is only because he is

taken in by wealthy and powerful adults that he is able to escape the immoral and dangerous world into

which he is born.

This powerlessness is not just represented in Oliver being physically overtaken or forced into things, but in

his constant failure to communicate with adults. Until he meets Mr. Brownlow, the adults who have total

control of Oliver in his life seem to fail completely to understand him. This is exemplified in the court room

scene, where Oliver loses his ability to speak, and so is given a name arbitrarily, but there are countless

examples of adults either ignoring or misunderstanding what seem to be clear and direct statements. This

powerlessness, however, is not insurmountable, as once Oliver has kind and intelligent people who are

willing to listen to him he gains agency.

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The powerlessness of women

Like children, women, too, are presented as at the mercy of the more powerful in society. This is especially

exemplified in Nancy, who ends up giving her life in her attempt to act against the men who hold power

over her. When Nancy is put in charge of taking Oliver to Sikes, she tells him that she would help him if she

could, but she doesn’t have the power. This ends up not being completely true—she does help Oliver in

going to Rose, but even then Rose must turn to Mr. Brownlow and Mr. Losberne to accomplish anything. It

is telling to consider that Nancy must give her life for just this small show of agency.

The limits of justice

Justice and its various forms are very important in Oliver Twist. By the end of the novel, almost all of the

characters have faced justice, in one way or another. Mr. and Mrs. Bumble are in a workhouse, Oliver,

Rose, and all of the good characters live happily and comfortably, and Sikes and Fagin have both been

hanged. Yet, Dickens does not seem completely comfortable with the way that justice has been meted out.

Although the good characters clearly deserve the happiness they get, and the bad characters certainly have

done plenty to deserve their own ends, the novel seems ambivalent about the methods and degree of justice

involved.

The reader is already wary of the justice system because of how close Oliver comes to becoming an

innocent victim of it. Thus, although Fagin’s guilt is clear, the court room is mobbed in such a way as to

make the justice system seem to blend with the mob mentality of the audience. This brings up the question

of who has the right to deliver justice, as well as whether any system mired in bureaucracy and relying on

human purity should have such extreme power as that of life and death.

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UNIT- IV

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

-R. L. Stevenson

Chapter 1: Story of the Door

The narration of the novel begins with two men, Mr. Utterson, a quiet, respectable lawyer, and his distant

relative Mr. Richard Enfield, taking a walk through a crowded street in London. On their way, they

encounter a mysterious cellar door, which prompts Mr. Enfield to recount a strange experience that

happened on this very street.

One night, at three in the morning, Mr. Enfield was walking through town when he saw a disfigured man

whom he described as "a Juggernaut," powering through the street maliciously trample an eight-year old

girl who was out to fetch a doctor. After apprehending the man, Enfield, the doctor, and the family of the

girl decided that, instead of sending for the police, they would blackmail the man to give one hundred

pounds to the girl's family. Amenable, the mysterious man disappeared behind the strange door that

Utterson and Enfield had encountered. He returned with ten pounds in gold and a check signed by a very

respectable third party, Dr. Henry Jekyll. Fearing the check was a forgery, the doctor, Enfield, and the

family forced the man to stay in their company until the banks opened and the check could be cashed.

When the banks opened, Enfield cashed the check, and was surprised to find it valid. Enfield could only

imagine that the mysterious man had possession of the check as a result of blackmail. Throughout

Enfield's narrative, he does not name he mysterious man. Finally, Utterson asks the man's name and

Enfield reveals it was a Mr. Edward Hyde. Under a great "weight of consideration," Utterson asks if the

man used a key to get into the door. Enfield confirms this and the two men vow to never speak of the

incident again.

Chapter 2: Search for Mr. Hyde

That evening after his walk with Enfield, Utterson returns home and examines Dr. Jekyll's will, which he

remembers had strange stipulations referring to the Mr. Hyde Enfield discussed. The will provides that in

the case of Henry Jekyll's death or disappearance, all of his possessions should be given to the Edward

Hyde. Utterson was uncomfortable when Jekyll originally requested this stipulation, and is further upset

by it after hearing of Mr. Hyde's despicable behavior. After considering the implications of the will with

what he has learned about Edward Hyde, Utterson goes to visit Dr. Lanyon, another dear friend of Dr.

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Jekyll's. When the men begin talking about Jekyll, Utterson discovers that Lanyon has not spoken to

Jekyll for a long period of time due to a disagreement over "unscientific balderdash." Utterson also learns

that Lanyon has never heard of Hyde.

After leaving Lanyon, Utterson's sleep is haunted by terrifying dreams of the evil Hyde, who is faceless

in the dream, trampling a young girl and then standing by Jekyll's bedside ordering him to rise. Upon

waking, Utterson reasons that if he can only see the face of Hyde, he might understand a reason for his

friend's relationship with the man. From that point forward, Utterson begins to haunt the streets around

the mysterious door, looking for Mr. Hyde to either enter or exit the portal. One night, he finally runs into

Mr. Hyde and confronts him as he is about to enter the building. Utterson introduces himself as an old

friend of Dr. Jekyll. Hyde then asks for Utterson's address and Utterson, in response, gives him a business

card. Utterson, asks Hyde for a favor - to see the man's face. After complying, Hyde asks how Utterson

knew him, and Utterson replies that he recognized him by description, claiming that they have common

friends such as Jekyll. Mr. Hyde angrily replies that he knows for a fact that Jekyll never told Utterson

anything about him and promptly disappears into the building.

After leaving this scene, Utterson goes to see Dr. Jekyll, but Poole, Jekyll's butler, reports that the doctor

is not at home. From this conversation, Utterson gleans that Jekyll's house, around the corner from the

mysterious door, is L-shaped, and that Hyde's mysterious door is actually an entrance to Jekyll's old

dissecting room. Utterson also learns that Hyde never dines in the house, but visits often. After leaving

Jekyll's home, Utterson walks home and decides that Hyde must be blackmailing Jekyll, perhaps for

some terrible act he committed earlier in his life.

Chapter 3: Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease

Two weeks later, Dr. Jekyll is holding a dinner party at which Mr. Utterson is a guest. After the guests

leave, Utterson confronts Jekyll over the matter of his will and tells him that he has been learning about

Mr. Hyde. Jekyll becomes upset when he hears of this and tells Utterson to drop the subject. Utterson

urges Hyde to confide in him, but again Jekyll tells Utterson to leave the subject alone and assures him

that he can be rid of Mr. Hyde at any point. As Mr. Utterson gets up to leave, Jekyll tells him that he does

have a great interest in "poor Hyde" and apologizes for his rude behavior, but begs him to make sure that

he takes care of Hyde when Jekyll is no longer there.

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Chapter 4: The Carew Murder Case

Nearly a year later, a respected member of London society, Sir Danvers Carew, is murdered. A maid

sitting by her window in the very early morning hours witnesses the story recounts the event. She gazes

out her window, romantically feeling at one with the world, when she sees an aged man with white hair

walking along a nearby path. She watches as he meets another, smaller man, whom she recognizes as Mr.

Hyde. Suddenly, Mr. Hyde brakes out in anger and attacks the white haired man, beating him to death

with a cane. The maid faints upon witnessing such horror. When she awakes a few hours later, she

immediately calls the police, who find the victim's body. On his person, the victim carried a purse, some

gold, and a letter addressed to Mr. Utterson. Subsequently, the police contact Mr. Utterson who identifies

the victim as Sir Danvers Carew, a member of Parliament. Upon learning the identity of the attacker, Mr.

Utterson takes the police chief to Mr. Hyde's home. The police find the rooms in Hyde's home ransacked.

Clothes strewn everywhere, half of the cane used to murder Danvers Carew is in one of the corners, and

the remnants of a burned checkbook lie on one of the tables. The police soon discover that Mr. Hyde has

disappeared. He cannot be found anywhere, and they are unable to find any trace of his past. Moreover,

those who have seen him are unable to describe him in detail, but generally agree on his evil appearance.

Chapter 5: Incident of the Letter

On the same day of the murder, Mr. Utterson makes his way to Dr. Jekyll's house, and meets with him in

his laboratory. Utterson and Jekyll discuss the unfortunate news that Sir Danvers Carew is dead,

presumably killed by Mr. Hyde. Jekyll swears that he is not hiding Hyde and that he is, "done with him in

this world." Jekyll also claims that he has received a letter from Hyde, which he shows to Utterson. The

letter thanks Jekyll for his kindness and urges him that he need not worry for his safety, as he has a sure

means of escape. Dr. Jekyll does not have the envelope, and claims that he burned it after it was hand

delivered. Jekyll asks Utterson what to do with the letter, as he is concerned that his reputation will be

damaged if he hands it over to the police. Utterson agrees to hold on to the letter, and tells Jekyll he is

glad that Hyde has disappeared, as Jekyll's life was most likely in danger. When leaving the house,

Jekyll's butler Poole tells Utterson that nothing was delivered that day, and Utterson begins to grow

suspicious.

Upon returning to his office, Utterson receives a dinner invitation from Jekyll. When the letter arrives,

Utterson's assistant, Mr. Guest, is examining the writing on the letter supposedly from Hyde. Mr. Guest

instantly recognizes that the same individual wrote both letters, although the writing on the Hyde letters

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appears to be slanted in a certain direction. Utterson angrily assumes that Jekyll has forged a letter for a

murderer.

Chapter 6: Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon

At the beginning of Chapter 6, we learn that "time has passed" and no one has been able to capture Hyde.

Jekyll, however, free from the evil influence of Hyde, has become a new man. He entertains, devotes

himself to charity, and is highly sociable. In early January, Utterson attends a dinner party at Jekyll's

home, at which Dr. Lanyon is also present. All were jovial and friendly, and had a wonderful time. Only

days afterwards, Utterson pays Jekyll a visit and learns from Poole that the doctor has secluded himself

and will see no one. After a week of this seclusion, Utterson visits Dr. Lanyon to see if he might be aware

of Utterson's reason for withdrawing from the world so suddenly. Dr. Lanyon greets Utterson, who

describes his and Jekyll's friend as though, "he had his death-warrant written upon his face." Lanyon

explains that he has suffered a terrible shock, and "shall never recover." When Utterson mentions that

Jekyll is also ill, Lanyon adamantly replies that he never wishes to speak of Jekyll again. Confused and

shaken, Utterson returns home and writes Jekyll a letter, asking for an explanation for his mysterious

behavior. Jekyll's reply, which arrives the next day, states, "I have brought on myself a punishment and a

danger that I cannot name." One week later, Dr. Lanyon dies and leaves Mr. Utterson a letter with

instructions only to read it following the death or disappearance of Dr. Jekyll. An honorable man who

respects his friends' and client's wishes, Utterson does not open the letter.

Chapter 7: Incident at the Window

Once again, Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson are walking by the mysterious door. Through one of the

windows, Utterson spots Dr. Jekyll, whom he has not seen for weeks. Utterson calls to Jekyll and tells

him he should get outside more. Jekyll replies that he wishes he could, but doesn't dare. As he finishes his

sentence, his smile disappears from his face and a look of utter terror takes over. It appears as though

Jekyll suffers some kind of seizure. Enfield and Utterson only briefly saw the pain in Jekyll's face before

he quickly shut the window, but are both appalled. They walk on without speaking of the incident.

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Chapter 8: The Last Night

Some time later, Utterson is sitting at home by his fireplace when Poole, Jekyll's butler, calls on him.

Poole appears quite distraught, and Utterson offers him a glass of wine to calm his nerves. Poole accepts,

although he leaves the wine untouched. Poole reveals that he has come to Utterson in desperation. He is

severely concerned about Dr. Jekyll's well being, as the man has been locked in his cabinet for weeks and

allows no one to see him. Poole admits that he believes there has been "foul play", but refuses to go into

specifics. Utterson has long been suspicious of Jekyll's behavior and has worried for his friend. Thus,

upon hearing of Poole's concerns, he quickly agrees to help. The two men leave Utterson's home and

head over to Jekyll's.

Inside Jekyll's home, Utterson sees that all the servants have, "huddled together like a flock of sheep."

Clearly, Poole is not alone in his concern, and one maid breaks down into sobs. This matter is far more

serious than Utterson ever imagined. Poole takes Utterson through the back garden and tells him not to

go into Jekyll's room, even if invited. Utterson is amazed at the degree of fear and terror in the home, and

begins to feel a bit afraid for what he will find in Jekyll's cabinet.

Utterson and Poole approach Jekyll's cabinet door in the laboratory, and Poole announces that Utterson is

asking to see Dr. Jekyll. A voice that does not sound like Jekyll calls out to say that he will not see

anyone. Poole returns to where Utterson was hiding and asks if the voice sounded like Jekyll. Utterson

agrees that, "It seems much changed." Utterson begins to grow afraid as Poole explains that in twenty

years of working for Jekyll, he has come to know his voice. In his heart, Poole knows that is not Jekyll's

voice, and tells Utterson that eight days ago, he heard Jekyll cry out in agony. Poole believes his master

was murdered, and that the culprit, "a thing only known to heaven," has been hiding in Jekyll's cabinet

ever since, pretending to be the master of the house.

As always, Utterson works to rationalize these recent events. He reasons that if someone murdered

Jekyll, he would not still be in the house. Poole explains that the man, or "whatever it is," has been

begging for a specific sort of medicine, "night after night." Before apparently disappearing, Jekyll had

also been searching for a specific medicine, and would write his orders down and pass them under the

door to Poole. Following his master's orders, Poole searched high and low for the medicine, but

everything he has brought back has been deemed useless or impure. Utterson asks to see a written

request, and Poole produces one from his pocket. The note seems quite professional, expresses a sense of

urgency, and then falls into desperation: "For God's sake, find me some of the old [drug]."

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Utterson agrees that something must be amiss. Poole then reveals that he has seen the person hiding in

Jekyll's room. He happened upon him one day while the man was sifting through crates in the laboratory.

Poole explains that the "creature," who was apparently wearing a mask, cried out upon noticing the

butler, and immediately ran up the stairs. Utterson proposes that perhaps Jekyll has been, "seized with

one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer," and still might be able to recover.

However, Poole is convinced that foul play is to blame, and that Jekyll has been murdered.

Utterson realizes he has no choice but to solve this mystery once and for all. He and Poole fetch an ax

from the surgery room to break down the cabinet door. Before doing so, they both agree that they believe

Hyde is in Jekyll's room and has killed the doctor. The two men ask Bradshaw, one of Jekyll's servants,

to stand guard at the laboratory door street entrance. Giving him enough time to reach his post, they agree

that in ten minutes, they will break down the door.

As the minutes pass, they listen to the strange footfalls emanating from Jekyll's cabinet. Finally the time

has come. Utterson yells, "Jekyll, I demand to see you. A voice pleads, "For God's sake, have mercy!"

Utterson knows it is the voice of Hyde. Poole destroys the cabinet door with the ax. Finally, the lock

breaks and the men are able to enter the room. Inside, everything appears in order, except a man's

contorted body is lying face down on the floor, with one hand clutching a vial. The body is described as

dwarf-like and wearing clothes far too large that would have fit Jekyll. Utterson believes Hyde has

committed suicide rather than face punishment for his ill deeds. Next, he and Poole begin searching for

Jekyll's body, but find nothing.

In the dissecting room, the find Hyde's key to the street door broken and rusted. Back in Jekyll's cabinet,

Poole points to the great amount of "white salt" Jekyll had sent for. Utterson picks up one of Jekyll's

books and is surprised at the terrible language and statements written in the margin. And, upon looking at

the full-length mirror in the room, the men agree, that it has witnessed many strange things. On Jekyll's

table, Utterson finds a large envelope with his name on it. He unseals it, and finds several enclosures.

First he finds a will that leaves all of Jekyll's material possessions to Utterson, not Hyde, as had

previously been designated. He examines the next paper, which appears to have been written that same

day and recognizes Jekyll's handwriting. Utterson wonders if the man is still alive. The short message

indicates that Jekyll has disappeared and fears his death is certain. Jekyll requests that Utterson read Dr.

Lanyon's sealed letter first, and if he still has unanswered questions, to then read the largest sealed

envelope which contains Jekyll's "confession."

Page 7 of 14

Utterson asks Poole to say nothing of these documents, as perhaps they can still salvage the good doctor's

reputation. It is ten at night, and Utterson resolves to go home to read the documents in question. He

vows to return before midnight and then to call the police.

Summary:9

Chapter nine consists of the text of Lanyon's letter to Utterson, which he was instructed not to open until

Lanyon and Jekyll had both died (or Jekyll had disappeared). Lanyon begins at the night after Jekyll's last

dinner party. Apparently, he received a very urgent letter from Jekyll that requested Lanyon follow very

specific instructions by going to Jekyll's home and retrieving a specific drawer from his cabinet. Poole

was to help him get into the upper room. Lanyon was to fetch the drawer and all of its contents and

immediately return to his home. A messenger from Jekyll would come to claim the ingredients at

midnight. There was no explanation of why Jekyll needed Lanyon to complete these tasks, but there was

such a severe sense of urgency that Lanyon felt he should comply.

Lanyon followed Jekyll's directions and returned home with the drawer. Inside, he found several vials,

one of which appeared to contain a kind of salt, and another that contained a strange red liquid

concoction. Lanyon also found a notebook in the drawer that seemed to document years of experiments

and notes about their results, but no suggestion as to the nature of the experiments. Lanyon curiously

waited for his visitor, and began to conclude that Jekyll must have lost his mind. At midnight, a small

dwarfish man appears at Lanyon's home, wearing clothes far too large for him. The reader recognizes this

description and knows this messenger is Hyde, but Lanyon had never met Hyde and did not recognize

him. Hyde acts strangely, both nervous and excited, and rather than exchange pleasantries with Lanyon,

immediately asks where the drawer is. Lanyon points it out and Hyde requests a graduated glass in which

he mixes the drawer's ingredients. His mixture first turns purple and then green. At this point, Hyde stops

and addresses Lanyon, asking if he would like to see the results of his assistance, which will in his words,

"stagger the unbelief of Satan," or if Hyde should leave with the mixture. At this point Lanyon is annoyed

by his guest's behavior and is interested in what could warrant such strangeness. He decides that he wants

to see this thing to the end.

Hyde drinks the glass, and Lanyon watches as his body changes form. Moments later, Hyde is gone and

Dr. Jekyll is standing before Lanyon. At this point, Lanyon concludes his letter to Utterson, stating that

Jekyll's explanation of the transformation and the nature of his years of experimentation are too

disturbing to repeat. Lanyon knows that the shock of this event is so severe that he will surely die.

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Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case

This final chapter presents a transcription of Jekyll's confession letter to Utterson. Jekyll begins by

claiming that at birth he was fortunate to have a large inheritance, health, and a hardworking nature. A

strong idealist, Jekyll maintained social respect while keeping his more questionable vices secret. When

he reached adulthood, Jekyll found that he was living two lives, one of the utmost respectability and

social graces, and the other of hidden pleasures and dark underpinnings. As a scientist, Jekyll decided to

examine the dual nature of man through mystical study that Lanyon found particularly offensive. In the

latter, Jekyll insists, "man is not truly one, but truly two," and he explains how through his research he

hoped to separate each side.

After years of work, Jekyll eventually created a chemical solution that would allow him to complete his

work. Jekyll purchased a large quantity of salt for his final ingredient, and resolved to drink the

concoction, knowing full well that he was putting his life in danger. The drink caused him pain and

nausea, but as these feelings passed, Jekyll began to examine the results of his work. In fact, he felt

strong, sensual and wild and he noticed that his body had changed. His hands were smaller and gnarled

looking, and his clothes were suddenly far too large, which led him to conclude that his alter ego, which

he later named Edward Hyde, was a small, dwarfish man. Jekyll reasoned that this identity was

physically smaller because it represented his evil side which had previously been repressed and carefully

controlled.

Jekyll looked in the mirror to examine his new identity and rather than feeling the repulsion that every

other character in the book noted, Jekyll felt "a leap of welcome." In truth, Jekyll enjoyed living as Hyde.

He was free to behave in a less honorable manner and partake in the darker side of London. Through

Hyde, Jekyll could live a dual life, where he could both maintain respectability and indulge his most base

desires. Jekyll established a residence for Hyde, in the cabinet room off his laboratory that had its own

street entrance. And, after the incident with the young girl that Enfield witnessed, Jekyll opened a bank

account for Edward Hyde in order to avoid suspicion. With all this freedom and power, Hyde began to

gain strength. Jekyll felt no remorse at his alter ego's behavior, but did try to right any wrongs Hyde

caused.

Jekyll's dual life was going perfectly as planned until two months prior to the murder of Sir Danvers

Carew. One night, Jekyll transformed into Hyde involuntarily, while sleeping. Suddenly, Jekyll realized

that he was in great danger of being trapped in the body of Hyde permanently, and that some aspect of

the experiment had moved beyond his control. For two months entire months, Jekyll lived only as

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himself. However, he soon felt the need to free his evil side, and in a moment of extreme weakness, took

the potion. Hyde emerged, and after months of repression, was out for blood. On this fateful night, Hyde

murdered Sir Danvers Carew, beating him to death with one of Jekyll's canes. Of course, Hyde felt no

guilt, but even before he had completely transformed back into himself, Jekyll was asking God for

forgiveness. Again, Jekyll resolved to never make another transformation. Over the next few months,

Utterson had noticed Jekyll's improved and more sociable behavior. It seemed as though he had freed

himself of a great weight.

Just as before, Jekyll grew bored with his pure and virtuous life, and gave in to his baser urges, albeit in

his own identity. However, even though he did not transform himself into Hyde, partaking in evil activity

at all strengthened Hyde inside of him. Thus, Jekyll suffered another spontaneous transformation, this

time in a park outside of his home. Afraid he would be captured by the police, and unable to return to his

home because the servants would see him and report him, Hyde sent for Lanyon's assistance. From that

night forward, Jekyll had to take double doses of the potion every six hours to avoid unintentionally

waking up as Hyde. When the drug wore off, Hyde would appear, and it was the beginnings of such a

transformation that Enfield and Utterson witnessed at the cabinet window.

In his final days and hours, Jekyll explains that Hyde grew increasingly stronger as Jekyll began to fade

away. To make matters worse, Jekyll's supply of potion salt was running out. He ordered more, only to

discover that the new salt was not effective. After ordering the most pure salt possible, Jekyll finally

realized that the original order must have contained an unknown impurity that was actually the key

potion ingredient. Without any more of the original salt, there was no way for Jekyll to discover what that

secret ingredient was. Jekyll realized he had no choice but to transform permanently in to Hyde. After

taking the last dose of potion, Jekyll, as himself, sat down to compose a new will and letters to Utterson

to explain the entire situation. While writing, Jekyll claims he cannot be sure how Hyde will react when

the rest of the world discovers him. But, he states that without a doubt, when Utterson reads the letter,

Henry Jekyll will have ceased to exist.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Character List

Mr. Utterson

The narrator of the book, Utterson is a middle-aged lawyer, and a man in which all the characters confide

throughout the novel. As an old friend of Jekyll, he recognizes the changes and strange occurrences of

Jekyll and Hyde, and resolves to further investigate the relationship between the two men. He is perhaps

the most circumspect, respected, and rational character in the book, and it is therefore significant that we

view Hyde's crimes and Jekyll's hypocrisy through his observant, but generally sympathetic perspective.

Richard Enfield

Mr. Utterson's cousin, a younger man who is assumed to be slightly wilder than his respectable and

sedate relative. While initially it is assumed that Enfield will play a large role in this novel as it is he who

is witnesses Hyde's initial crime, Enfield only appears in two scenes. In both, he walks past Hyde's

mysterious door with Mr. Utterson.

Dr. Lanyon

A former friend and colleague of Dr. Jekyll. Ten years before the events in the novel, he suspended his

friendship with Dr. Jekyll because of a disagreement over scientific endeavors. Lanyon is highly

respected, rational, and values truth and goodness above all else.

Dr. Henry Jekyll

A prominent middle-aged doctor described as both tall and handsome. He is also extremely wealthy with

a fortune well over two million dollars. All that know him describe him as respected and proper.

However, as the novel progresses, we subtly witness his hypocritical behavior, which Stevenson claimed

was Jekyll's fatal flaw. The doctor's belief that within each human being there exist forces of good and

evil leads to his experiments that try to separate the two. Although presented as a scientific experiment,

Jekyll undertook this task to allow himself a release from the respectable guise of Dr. Jekyll. In the book,

Jekyll's voice is only heard in the concluding chapter, only after being described through the lens of

Utterson, Lanyon, Poole, and Enfield.

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Edward Hyde

A small, deformed, disgusting man somewhat younger than Dr. Jekyll who is apparently devoid of a

profession. Lanyon, Utterson and Enfield all describe witnessing something indefinably evil and horrific

in Edward Hyde's face. He is often compared to animals, implying that he is not a fully evolved human

being. Despite these descriptions, Hyde is generally civilized in his interactions with others, most notably

Utterson and Lanyon. Dr. Jekyll describes Hyde as "pure evil," who menaces society at night, trampling a

girl in the street and murdering Sir Danvers Carew. We learn at the end of the story that Edward Hyde

and Dr. Henry Jekyll are in fact the same person.

Sir Danvers Carew

A highly respected and prominent member of English society who Edward Hyde brutally murders. Carew

is described as "silver haired" and "gentle."

Mr. Guest

Mr. Utterson's law office clerk who discovers the handwriting similarity between notes from Mr. Hyde

and Dr. Jekyll.

Richard Poole

Dr. Jekyll's faithful butler. When fearful for his master's life, Poole seeks out Mr. Utterson's assistance.

The two men discover Edward Hyde dead in Dr. Jekyll's cabinet and then, from a letter written by Dr.

Jekyll's hand, learn of the doctor's fantastic experiments.

Maintaining Suspense

The novels of Stevenson--such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and, of course, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--

enjoy enduring popularity partly because of the author's ability to maintain suspense. In the following

paragraph, for example, he creates an air of mystery about Mr. Hyde and asks questions that arouse the

reader's curiosity.

Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable

malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous

mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all

these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust,

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loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. "There must be something else," said the

perplexed gentleman. "There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man

seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it

the mere radience of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last,

I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your

new friend." (Chapter 2)

In Chapter 6, Stevenson says of Hyde,

Much of his past was unearthed, indeed, and all disreputable: tales came out of the man's cruelty, at once

so callous and violent; of his vile life, of his strange associates, of the hatred that seemed to have

surrounded his career; but of his present whereabouts, not a whisper.

In a Chapter 8,Stevenson creates a sense of foreboding, then plants a suggestion of impending

catastrophe.

It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind

had tilted her, and flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking

difficult, and flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of

passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had never seen that part of London so deserted. He

could have wished it otherwise; never in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to see and

touch his fellow-creatures; for struggle as he might, there was borne in upon his mind a crushing

anticipation of calamity.

Conflict

The conflict in the novel centers on

(1) The struggle between Jekyll and Hyde for control of the doctor's mind and body and

(2) The struggle between Hyde and society after he makes his presence known as a brutal murderer.

Nature reflects these struggles symbolically, as in the following passage in which the sun and wind vie

with a heavy fog that descends over the Soho district of London.

It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the season. A great chocolate-coloured

pall lowered over heaven, but the wind was continually charging and routing these embattled vapours; so

that as the cab crawled from street to street, Mr. Utterson beheld a marvelous number of degrees and hues

of twilight; for here it would be dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be a glow of a rich,

lurid brown, like the light of some strange conflagration; and here, for a moment, the fog would be quite

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broken up, and a haggard shaft of daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths. The dismal

quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers, and

its lamps, which had never been extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful

reinvasion of darkness, seemed, in the lawyer's eyes, like a district of some city in a nightmare.

Themes

Good vs Evil

Each human being is a mixture of good and evil. Unless a person suppresses his evil side, he runs the risk

that the latter will dominate his good side and eventually bring him to ruin.

Boundaries of Science

Science has moral boundaries. Jekyll crosses them when he experiments on a mentally sound and

physically healthy human being, himself, without regard for the dangers he could pose to himself and

others. You may wish to compare this theme with a similar one in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Loyalty and Professional Ethics

Utterson is loyal to everyone he befriends—Jekyll, Enfield, his circle of professional friends. He, Guest,

and Lanyon also strictly observe professional ethics, keeping confidences and abiding by agreements.

Isolation and Secrecy

When he conducts his experiments in hiding—without confiding in colleagues before or after the

appearance of Hyde—Jekyll isolates himself and keeps his experiments a secret. As Mr. Hyde, he also

moves about in secret. The veiled life of Jekyll-Hyde suggests that urban environments such as London

have a hidden, mysterious side lurking within the shadows.

Bestial Violence

When Jekyll becomes Hyde, he becomes violent, like a wild animal. The message here is clear: When

any man allows his Hyde to gain sway, he also becomes violent—-as a playground bully, a barroom

brawler, a sadistic warmonger, a terrorist.

.

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Climax

The climax occurs when Utterson and Poole break down the door to Jekyll's laboratory and find Jekyll's

alter ego, Hyde, lying dead on the floor.

Multiple-Personality Disorder

There is a mental illness in which a person exhibits more than one personality, or identity. The American

Psychiatric Association (APA) calls it dissociative-identity disorder, jargon for multiple-personality

disorder. The sufferer has two or more personalities. One personality, or identity, may take control of the

mind for a while, then yield to another personality. The latter personality may in turn yield to still another

personality. Often one personality dominates. However, the dominant personality may not be aware of

what another personality did while in control.

The personalities may behave differently and, if aware that more than one personality inhabits the body,

may even despise a rival personality. A victim of multiple-personality disorder may find himself in a

strange car or a strange house, not realizing that one of his personalities took him there, then yielded to

another personality. The disorder is extremely rare. Persons abused as children are among those most

likely to develop the disorder.

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Unit V

Wuthering Heights

-Emile Bronte

Chapter 1

It is 1801, and the narrator, Mr. Lockwood, relates how he has just returned from a visit to his new landlord,

Mr. Heathcliff. Lockwood, a self-described misanthropist, is renting Thrush cross Grange in an effort to get

away from society following a failure at love. He had fallen in love with a "real goddess", but when she

returned his affection he acted so coldly she "persuaded her mamma to decamp." He finds that relative to

Heathcliff, however, he is extremely sociable. Heathcliff, "a dark skinned gypsy, in aspect, in dress and

manners a gentleman” treats his visitor with a minimum of friendliness, and Wuthering Heights, the farm

where Heathcliff lives, is just as foreign and unfriendly. 'Wuthering' means stormy and windy in the local

dialect. As Lockwood enters, he sees a name carved near the door: Hareton Earnshaw. Dangerous-looking

dogs inhabit the bare and old-fashioned rooms, and threaten to attack Lockwood: when he calls for help

Heathcliff implies that Lockwood had tried to steal something. The only other inhabitants of Wuthering

Heights are an old servant named Joseph and a cook––neither of whom are much friendlier than Heathcliff.

Despite his rudeness, Lockwood finds himself drawn to Heathcliff: he describes him as intelligent, proud

and morose––an unlikely farmer. Heathcliff gives Lockwood some wine and invites him to come again.

Although Lockwood suspects this invitation is insincere, he decides he will return because he is so intrigued

by the landlord.

Chapter 2

Annoyed by the housework being done in the Grange, Lockwood pays a second visit to Wuthering Heights,

arriving there just as snow begins to fall. The weather is cold, the ground is frozen, and his reception

matches the bleak unfriendliness of the moors. After yelling at the old servant Joseph to open the door, he is

finally let in by a peasant-like young man. The bare kitchen is warm, and Lockwood assumes that the young

and beautiful girl there is Mrs. Heathcliff. He tries to make conversation but she is consistently scornful and

inhospitable, and he only embarrasses himself. There is "a kind of desperation" in her eyes. She refuses to

make him tea unless Heathcliff said he could have some. The young man and Heathcliff come in for tea.

The young man behaves boorishly and seems to suspect Lockwood of making advances to the girl.

Heathcliff demands tea "savagely", and Lockwood decides he doesn't really like him. Trying to make

conversation again, Lockwood gets into trouble first assuming that the girl is Heathcliff's wife, and then that

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she is married to the young man, who he supposes to be Heathcliff's son. He is rudely corrected, and it

transpires that the girl is Heathcliff's daughter-in-law but her husband is dead, as is Heathcliff's wife. The

young man is Hareton Earnshaw. It is snowing hard and Lockwood requests a guide so he can return home

safely, but he is refused: Heathcliff considers it more important that Hareton take care of the horses. Joseph,

who is evidently a religious fanatic, argues with the girl, who frightens him by pretending to be a witch. The

old servant doesn't like her reading. Lockwood, left stranded and ignored by all, tries to take a lantern, but

Joseph offensively accuses him of stealing it, and sets dogs on him. Lockwood is humiliated and Heathcliff

and Hareton laugh. The cook, Zillah, takes him in and says he can spend the night.

Chapter 3

Zillah quietly shows Lockwood to a chamber which, she says, Heathcliff does not like to be occupied. She

doesn't know why, having only lived there for a few years. Left alone, Lockwood notices the names

"Catherine Earnshaw," "Catherine Linton," and "Catherine Heathcliff" scrawled over the window ledge. He

leafs through some old books stacked there, and finds that the margins are covered in handwriting––

evidently the child Catherine's diary. He reads some entries which evoke a time in which Catherine and

Heathcliff were playmates living together as brother and sister, and bullied by Joseph (who made them

listen to sermons) and her older brother Hindley. Apparently Heathcliff was a 'vagabond' taken in by

Catherine's father, raised as one of the family, but when the father died Hindley made him a servant and

threatened to throw him out, to Catherine's sorrow.

Lockwood then falls asleep over a religious book, and has a nightmare about a fanatical preacher leading a

violent mob. Lockwood wakes up, hears that a sound in his dream had really been a branch rubbing against

the window, and falls asleep again. This time he dreams that he wanted to open the window to get rid of the

branch, but when he did, a "little, ice-cold hand" grabbed his arm, and a voice sobbed "let me in." He asked

who it was, and was answered: "Catherine Linton. I'm come home, I'd lost my way on the moor." He saw a

child's face and, afraid, drew the child's wrist back and forth on the broken glass of the window so that

blood soaked the sheets. Finally he gets free, and insists that he won't let the creature in, even if it has been

lost for twenty years, as it claims. He wakes up screaming.

Heathcliff comes in, evidently disturbed and confused, unaware that Lockwood is there. Lockwood tells him

what happened, mentioning the dream and Catherine Linton's name, which distresses and angers Heathcliff.

Lockwood goes to the kitchen, but on his way he hears Heathcliff at the window, despairingly begging

'Cathy' to come in "at last". Lockwood is embarrassed by his host's obvious agony.

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Morning comes: Lockwood witnesses an argument between Heathcliff and the girl, who has been reading.

Heathcliff bullies her, and she resists spiritedly. Heathcliff walks Lockwood most of the way home in the

snow.

Chapter 4

Summary

Lockwood is bored and a little weak after his adventures, so he asks his housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell him

about Heathcliff and the old families of the area. She says Heathcliff is very rich and a miser, though he has

no family, since his son is dead. The girl living at Wuthering Heights was the daughter of Ellen's former

employers, the Lintons, and her name was Catherine. She is the daughter of the late Mrs. Catherine Linton,

was born an Earnshaw, thus Hareton's aunt. Heathcliff's wife was Mr. Linton's sister. Ellen is fond of the

younger Catherine, and worries about her unhappy situation.

The narrative switches to Ellen's voice, whose language is much plainer than Lockwood's. She is a discreet

narrator, rarely reminding the listener of her presence in the story, so that the events she recounts feel

immediate. She says she grew up at Wuthering Heights, where her mother worked as a wet nurse. One

day, Mr. Earnshawoffered to bring his children Hindley (14 years old) and Catherine (about 6) a present

each from his upcoming trip to Liverpool. Hindley asked for a fiddle and Catherine for a whip, because she

was already an excellent horsewoman. When Earnshaw returned, however, he brought with him a "dirty,

ragged, black-haired child" found starving on the streets. The presents had been lost or broken. The boy

was named Heathcliff and taken into the family, though he was not entirely welcomed by Mrs. Earnshaw,

Ellen, and Hindley. Heathcliff and Catherine became very close, and he became Earnshaw's favorite.

Hindley felt that his place was usurped, and took it out on Heathcliff, who was hardened and stoic. For

example, Earnshaw gave them each a colt, and Heathcliff chose the finest, which went lame. Heathcliff then

claimed Hindley's, and when Hindley threw a heavy iron at him, Heathcliff threatened to tell Earnshaw

about it if he didn't get the colt.

Chapter 5

Summary

Earnshaw grew old and sick, and with his illness he became irritable and somewhat obsessed with the idea

that people disliked his favorite, Heathcliff. Heathcliff was spoiled to keep Earnshaw happy, and Hindley,

who became more and more bitter about the situation, was sent away to college. Joseph, already "the

wearisomest, self-righteous pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself, and fling

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the curses to his neighbors" used his religious influence over Earnshaw to distance him from his children.

Earnshaw thought Hindley was worthless, and didn't like Cathy's playfulness and high spirits, so in his last

days he was irritable and discontented. Cathy was "much too fond" of Heathcliff, and liked to order people

around. Heathcliff would do anything she asked. Cathy's father was harsh to her and she became hardened

to his reproofs.

Finally Earnshaw died one evening when Cathy had been resting her head against his knee and Heathcliff

was lying on the floor with his head in her lap. When she went to kiss her father good night, she discovered

he was dead and the two children began to cry, but that night Ellen saw that they had managed to comfort

each other with "better thoughts than [she] could have hit on" imagining the old man in heaven.

Chapter 6

Summary

Hindley returns home, unexpectedly bringing his wife, a flighty woman with a strange fear of death and

symptoms of consumption (although Ellen did not at first recognize them as such). Hindley also brought

home new manners and rules, and informed the servants that they would have to live in inferior quarters.

Most importantly, he treated Heathcliff as a servant, stopping his education and making him work in the

fields like any farm boy. Heathcliff did not mind too much at first because Cathy taught him what she

learned, and worked and played with him in the fields. They stayed away from Hindley as much as possible

and grew up uncivilized and free. "It was one of their chief amusements," Ellen recalls, "to run away to the

moors in the morning and remain there all day, and after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at".

One day they ran off after being punished, and at night Heathcliff returned. He told Ellen what had

happened. He and Cathy ran to the Grange to see how people lived there, and they saw the Linton children

Edgar and Isabella in a beautiful room, crying after an argument over who could hold the pet dog. Amused

and scornful, Heathcliff and Cathy laughed; the Lintons heard them and called for their parents. After

making frightening noises, Cathy and Heathcliff tried to escape, but a bulldog bit Cathy's leg and refused to

let go. She told Heathcliff to escape but he would not leave her, and tried to pry the animal's jaws open. Mr.

and Mrs. Linton mistook them for thieves and brought them inside. When Edgar Linton recognized Cathy as

Miss Earnshaw, the Lintons expressed their disgust at the children's wild manners and especially at

Heathcliff's being allowed to keep Cathy company. They coddled Cathy and drove Heathcliff out; he went

back to Wuthering Heights on foot after assuring himself that Cathy was all right.

When Hindley found out, he welcomed the chance to separate Cathy and Heathcliff, so Cathy was to stay

for a prolonged visit with the Lintons while her leg healed and Heathcliff was forbidden to speak to her.

Page 5 of 36

Chapter 7

Summary

Ellen resumes the narrative. Cathy stayed at Thrushcross Grange for five weeks, until Christmas. When she

returned home she had been transformed into a young lady with that role's attending restrictions: she could

no longer kiss Ellen without worrying about getting flour on her dress. She hurt Heathcliff's feelings by

comparing his darkness and dirtiness to Edgar and Isabella's fair complexions and clean clothes. The boy

had become more and more neglected in her absence, and was cruelly put in his place by Hindley and

especially by Cathy's new polish. Cathy's affection for Heathcliff had not really changed, but he did not

know this and ran out, refusing to come in for supper. Ellen felt sorry for him.

The Linton children were invited for a Christmas party the next day. That morning Heathcliff humbly

approached Ellen and asked her to "make him decent" because he was "going to be good". Ellen applauded

his resolution and reassured him that Cathy still liked him and that she was grieved by his shyness. When

Heathcliff said he wished he could be more like Edgar––fair, rich, and well-behaved––Ellen told him that he

could be perfectly handsome if he smiled more and was more trustful.

However, when Heathcliff, now "clean and cheerful", tried to join the party, Hindley told him to go away

because he was not fit to be there. Edgar unwisely made fun of his long hair and Heathcliff threw hot

applesauce at him, and was taken away and flogged by Hindley. Cathy was angry at Edgar for mocking

Heathcliff and getting him into trouble, but she didn't want to ruin her party. She kept up a good front, but

didn't enjoy herself, thinking of Heathcliff alone and beaten. At her first chance after her guests gone home,

she crept into the garret where he was confined.

Later Ellen gave Heathcliff dinner, since he hadn't eaten all day, but he ate little and when she asked what

was wrong, he said he was thinking of how to avenge himself on Hindley. At this point Ellen's narrative

breaks off and she and Lockwood briefly discuss the merits of the active and contemplative life, with

Lockwood defending his lazy habits and Ellen saying she should get things done rather than just telling

Lockwood the story. He persuades her to go on.

Chapter 8

Summary

Hindley's wife Frances gave birth to a child, Hareton, but did not survive long afterwards: she had

consumption. Despite the doctor's warnings, Hindley persisted in believing that she would recover, and she

seemed to think so too, always saying she felt better, but she died a few weeks after Hareton's birth. Ellen

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was happy to take care of the baby. Hindley "grew desperate; his sorrow was of a kind that will not lament,

he neither wept nor prayed––he cursed and defied––execrated God and man, and gave himself up to

reckless dissipation". The household more or less collapsed into violent confusion––respectable neighbors

ceased to visit, except for Edgar, entranced by Catherine. Heathcliff's ill treatment and the bad example

posed by Hindley made him "daily more notable for savage sullenness and ferocity." Catherine disliked

having Edgar visit Wuthering Heights because she had a hard time behaving consistently when Edgar and

Heathcliff met, or when they talked about each other. Edgar's presence made her feel as though she had to

behave like a Linton, which was not natural for her.

One day when Hindley was away, Heathcliff was offended to find Catherine dressing for Edgar's visit. He

asked her to turn Edgar away and spend the time with him instead but she refused. Edgar was by this time a

gentle, sweet young man. He came and Heathcliff left, but Ellen stayed as a chaperone, much to Catherine's

annoyance. She revealed her bad character by pinching Ellen, who was glad to have a chance to show Edgar

what Catherine was like, and cried out. Catherine denied having pinched her, blushing with rage, and

slapped her, then slapped Edgar for reproving her. He said he would go; she, recovering her senses, asked

him to stay, and he was too weak and enchanted by her stronger will to leave. Brought closer by the quarrel,

the two "confess[ed] themselves lovers". Ellen heard Hindley come home drunk, and out of precaution

unloaded his gun.

Chapter 9

Summary

Hindley came in raging drunk and swearing, and caught Ellen in the act of trying to hide Hareton in a

cupboard for his safety. Hindley threatened to make Nelly swallow a carving knife, and even tried to force it

between her teeth, but she bravely said she'd rather be shot, and spat it out. Then he took up Hareton and

said he would crop his ears like a dog, to make him look fiercer, and held the toddler over the banister.

Hearing Heathcliff walking below, Hindley accidentally dropped the child, but fortunately Heathcliff caught

him. Looking up to see what had happened, he showed "the intensest anguish at having made himself the

instrument of thwarting his own revenge". In other words, he hated Hindley so much that he would have

liked to have him to kill his own son by mistake. If it had been dark, Ellen said, "he would have tried to

remedy the mistake by smashing Hareton's skull on the steps." Hindley was somewhat shaken, and began to

drink more. Heathcliff told Nelly he wished Hindley would drink himself to death, but that was unlikely to

happen as he had a strong constitution.

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In the kitchen Cathy came to talk to Nelly (neither of them knew Heathcliff was in the room, sitting behind

the settle). Cathy said she was unhappy, that Edgar had asked her to marry him, and she had accepted. She

asked Nelly what she should have answered. Nelly asked her if and why she loved Edgar; she said she did

for a variety of material reasons: "he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman in the

neighborhood, and I shall be proud of such a husband". Nelly disapproved, and Cathy admitted that she was

sure she was wrong: she had had a dream in which she went to heaven and was unhappy there because she

missed Wuthering Heights. She said:

"I have no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there

had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff,

now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's

more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as

different as a moonbeam from lightening, or frost from fire."

Heathcliff left after hearing that it would degrade her to marry him and did not hear Cathy's confession of

love. Nelly told Cathy that Heathcliff would be deserted if she married Linton, and Cathy indignantly

replied that she had no intention of deserting Heathcliff, but would use her influence to raise him up. Nelly

said Edgar wouldn't like that, to which Cathy replied: "Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into

nothing, before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff!"

Later that night it turned out that no one knew where Heathcliff was. Cathy went out in the storm looking

for him, unsuccessfully––he had run away. The next morning she was sick. After some time she went to

stay with the Lintons a healthier environment and she got better, although Edgar and Isabella's parents

caught the fever from her and died. She returned to Wuthering Heights "saucier, and more passionate, and

haughtier than ever". When Nelly said that Heathcliff's disappearance was her fault, Cathy stopped speaking

to her. She married Edgar three years after Mr. Earnshaw's death, and Ellen unwillingly went to live with

her at the Grange, leaving Hareton to live with his wretched father and Joseph.

Chapter 10

Summary

Catherine got along surprisingly well with her husband and Isabella, mostly because they never opposed

her. She had "seasons of gloom and silence" though. Edgar took these for the results of her serious illness.

When they had been married almost a year, Heathcliff came back. Nelly was outside that evening and he

asked her to tell Catherine someone wanted to see her. He was quite changed: a tall and athletic man who

looked as though he might have been in the army, with gentlemanly manners and educated speech, though

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his eyes contained a "half-civilized ferocity". Catherine was overjoyed and didn't understand why Edgar

didn't share her happiness. Heathcliff stayed for tea, to Edgar's peevish irritation. It transpired that Heathcliff

was staying at Wuthering Heights, paying Hindley generously, but winning his host's money at cards.

Catherine wouldn't let Heathcliff actually hurt her brother.

In the following weeks, Heathcliff often visited the Grange. Edgar Linton's sister, Isabella, a "charming

young lady of eighteen" (101) became infatuated with Heathcliff, to her brother's dismay. Isabella got angry

at Catherine for keeping Heathcliff to herself, and Catherine warned her that Heathcliff was a very bad

person to fall in love with and that Isabella was no match for him:

"I never say to him to let this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them, I

say "Let them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged"; and he'd crush you, like a sparrow's egg,

Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge."

Catherine teased Isabella by telling Heathcliff in her presence that Isabella loved him. Humiliated, Isabella

tried to run away, but Catherine held her. Isabella scratched Catherine's arm and managed to escape, and

Heathcliff, alone with Catherine, expressed interest in marrying Isabella for her money and to enrage Edgar.

He said he would beat Isabella if they were married because of her "mawkish, waxen face"

Chapter 11

Summary

Nelly went to visit Wuthering Heights to see how Hindley and Hareton were doing. She saw little Hareton

outside, but he didn't recognize her as his former nurse, so he threw a rock at her and cursed. She found that

his father had taught him how to curse, and that Hareton liked Heathcliff because he defended Hareton from

Hindley's curses, and allowed Hareton to do what he liked. Nelly was going to go in when she saw

Heathcliff there; frightened, she ran back home.

The next time Heathcliff visited Thrushcross Grange, Nelly saw him kiss Isabella in the courtyard. She told

Catherine what had happened, and when Heathcliff came in the two had an argument. Heathcliff said he had

a right to do as he pleased, since Catherine was married to someone else. He said: "You are welcome to

torture me to death for your amusement, only, allow me to amuse myself a little in the same style".

Nelly found Edgar, who came in while Catherine was scolding Heathcliff. Edgar scolded Catherine for

talking to "that blackguard", which made her very angry, since she had been defending the Lintons. Edgar

ordered Heathcliff to leave, who scornfully ignored him. Edgar motioned for Nelly to fetch reinforcements,

but Catherine angrily locked the door and threw the key into the fire when Edgar tried to get it from her.

Catherine and Heathcliff mocked the humiliated and furious Edgar, so he hit Heathcliff and went out by the

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back door to get help. Nelly warned Heathcliff that he would be thrown out by the male servants if he

stayed, so he chose to leave.

Left with Nelly, Catherine expressed her anger at her husband and Heathcliff: "Well, if I cannot keep

Heathcliff for my friend––if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my

own". Edgar came in and demanded to know whether Catherine would drop Heathcliff's acquaintance, and

she had a temper tantrum, ending with a faked "fit of frenzy". When Nelly revealed that the fit was faked,

Catherine ran to her room and refused to come out or to eat for several days.

Chapter 12

Summary

After three days in which Catherine stayed alone in her room, Edgar sat in the library, and Isabella moped in

the garden, Catherine called Nelly for some food and water because she thought she was dying. She ate

some toast, and was indignant to hear that Edgar wasn't frantic about her. She said: "How strange! I thought,

though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me––and they have all turned

to enemies in a few hours". It became clear to Ellen that Catherine was delirious, and thought she was back

in her room at Wuthering Heights. After seeing her reflection in a mirror, Catherine became frightened

because she thought there was no mirror there. She opened the window and talked to Heathcliff (who was

not there) as though they were children again. Edgar came in and was very concerned for Catherine, and

angry at Ellen for not having told him what was going on.

Going to fetch a doctor, Ellen noticed that Isabella's little dog almost dead, hanging by a handkerchief on

the gate. She rescued it, and found Dr. Kenneth, who told her that he had seen Isabella walking for hours in

the park with Heathcliff. Moreover, Dr. Kenneth had heard a rumor that Isabella and Heathcliff were

planning to run away together. Ellen rushed back to the Grange found that Isabella had indeed disappeared,

and a little boy told her he had seen the girl riding away with Heathcliff. Ellen told Edgar, hoping he would

rescue his sister from her ill-considered elopement, but he coldly refused to do so.

Chapter 13

Summary

In the next two months Catherine "encountered and conquered the worst shock of what was denominated a

brain fever", but it became clear that she would never really recover. She was pregnant. Heathcliff and

Isabella returned to Wuthering Heights, and Isabella wrote Edgar an apology and a plea for forgiveness, to

which he gave no reply. She later sent Ellen a longer letter asking whether Heathcliff were a demon or

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crazy, and recounting her experiences. She found Wuthering Heights dirty, uncivilized and

unwelcoming: Joseph was rude to her, Hareton was disobedient, Hindley was a half-demented wreck of a

man, and Heathcliff treated her cruelly. He refused to let her sleep in his room, which meant she had to stay

in a tiny garret. Hindley had a pistol with a blade on it, with which he dreamed of killing Heathcliff, and

Isabella coveted it for the power it would have given her. She was miserable and regretted her marriage

heartily.

Chapter 14

Summary

Ellen, distressed by Edgar's refusal to console Isabella, went to visit her at Wuthering Heights. She told

Isabella and Heathcliff that Catherine would "never be what she was" and that Heathcliff should not bother

her anymore. Heathcliff asserted that he would not leave her to Edgar's lukewarm care, and that she loved

him much more than her husband. He said that if he had been in Edgar's place he would never have

interfered with Catherine's friendships, although he would kill the friend the moment Catherine no longer

cared about him.

Ellen urged Heathcliff to treat Isabella better, and he expressed his scorn and hatred for his wife (in her

presence, of course). He said Isabella knew what he was when she married him: she had seen him hanging

her pet dog. Isabella told Ellen that she hated Heathcliff, and he ordered her upstairs so he could talk to

Ellen.

Alone with her, he told her that if she did not arrange an interview for him with Catherine, he would force

his way in armed, and she agreed to give Catherine a letter from him.

Chapter 15

Summary

The Sunday after Ellen's visit to Wuthering Heights, while most people were at church, she gave Catherine

Heathcliff's letter. Catherine was changed by her sickness: she was beautiful in an unearthly way and her

eyes "appeared always to gaze beyond, and far beyond". Ellen had left the door open, so Heathcliff walked

in and Catherine eagerly waited for him to find the right room. Their reunion was bitter-sweet: though

passionately glad to be reunited, Catherine accused Heathcliff of having killed her, and Heathcliff warned

her not to say such things when he would be tortured by them after her death––besides, she had been at fault

by abandoning him. She asked him to forgive her, since she would not be at peace after death, and he

answered: "It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands... I love my

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murderer––but yours! How can I?" They held each other closely and wept until Ellen warned them that

Linton was returning. Heathcliff wanted to leave, but Catherine insisted that he stay, since she was dying

and would never see him again. He consented to stay, and "in the midst of the agitation, [Ellen] was

sincerely glad to observe that Catherine's arms had fallen relaxed... She's fainted or dead, so much the

better..." Linton came in, and Heathcliff handed him Catherine's body and told him to take care of her:

"Unless you be a fiend, help her first then you shall speak to me!" He told Nelly he would wait outside for

news of Catherine's welfare, and left.

Chapter 16

Summary

Around midnight, Catherine gave birth to a daughter (also named Catherine––she is Catherine Linton, the

teenage girl Lockwood saw at Wuthering Heights). Catherine Earnshaw died two hours later without

recovering consciousness. No one cared for the infant at first, and Ellen wished it had been a boy: with no

son, Edgar's heir was Isabella, Heathcliff's wife. Catherine's corpse looked peaceful and beautiful, and Ellen

decided that she had found heaven at last.

She went outside to tell Heathcliff and found him leaning motionless against an ash tree. He knew Catherine

was dead, and asked Ellen how it had happened, attempting to conceal his anguish. Ellen was not fooled,

and told him that Cahterine had died peacefully, like a girl falling asleep. Heathcliff cursed Catherine and

begged her to haunt him so he would not be left in "this abyss, where I cannot find you!... Icannot live

without my soul!" He dashed his head against the tree and howled "like a savage beast getting goaded to

death with knives and spears." Ellen was appalled.

On Tuesday, when Catherine's body was still lying in the Grange, strewn with flowers, Heathcliff took

advantage of Edgar's short absence from the bedchamber to see her again, and to replace Edgar's hair in

Catherine's locket with some of his own. Ellen noticed the change, and enclosed both locks of hair together.

Catherine was buried on Friday in a green slope in a corner of the kirkyard, where, Ellen said, her husband

now lies as well.

Chapter 17

Summary

The next day, while Ellen was rocking baby Catherine, Isabella came in laughing giddily. Isabella was pale,

her face was cut, and her thin silk dress was torn by briars. She asked Ellen to call a carriage for the nearest

town, Gimmerton, since she was escaping from her husband, and to have a maid get some clothes ready.

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Then she allowed Ellen to give her dry clothes and bind up the wound. Isabella tried to destroy her wedding

ring by throwing it in the fire, and told Ellen what had happened to her in the last few days.

Isabella said that she hated Heathcliff so much that she could feel no compassion for him even when he was

in agony following Catherine's death. He hadn't eaten for days, and spent his time at Wuthering Heights in

his room, "praying like a methodist; only the deity he implored was senseless dust and ashes". The evening

before, Isabella sat reading while Hindley drank morosely. When they heard Heathcliff returning from his

watch over Catherine's grave, Hindley warned Isabella of his plan to lock Heathcliff out, and try to kill him

with his bladed pistol if he came in. Isabella would have liked Heathcliff to die, but refused to help in the

scheme, so when Heathcliff knocked she refused to let him in, saying: "If I were you, I'd go stretch myself

over her grave, and die like a faithful dog... The world is not worth living in now, is it?" Hindley went to the

window to kill Heathcliff, but the latter grabbed the weapon so the blade shut on Hindley's wrist; then he

forced his way in. He kicked and trampled Hindley, who had fainted from the loss of blood, then roughly

bound up the wound, and told Joseph and Isabella to clean up the blood.

The next morning when Isabella came down, Hindley "was sitting by the fire, deadly sick; his evil genius,

almost as gaunt and ghastly, leant by the chimney". After eating breakfast by herself, she told Hindley how

he had been kicked when he was down, and mocked Heathcliff for having so mistreated his beloved's

brother, saying to Hindley: "everyone knows your sister would have been living now, had it not been for

Mr. Heathcliff". Heathcliff was so miserable that he could hardly retaliate, so Isabella went on and said that

if Catherine had married him, he would have beaten her the way he beat Hindley. Heathcliff threw a knife at

Isabella, and she fled, knocking down Hareton, "who was hanging a litter of puppies from a chairback in the

doorway”. She ran to the Grange.

That morning, Isabella left, never to return to the moors again. Later, in her new home near London, she

gave birth to a son, named Linton, "an ailing, peevish creature.” Isabella died of illness when her son was

about twelve years old.

Edgar grew resigned to Catherine's death, and loved his daughter, who he called Cathy, very much. Ellen

points out the difference between his behavior and Hindley's in a similar situation.

Hindley died, "drunk as a lord”, about six months after Catherine. He was just 27, meaning that Catherine

had been 19, Heathcliff was 20, and Edgar was 21. Ellen grieved deeply for him they had been the same

age and were brought up together. She made sure he was decently buried. She wanted to take Hareton back

to the Grange, but Heathcliff said he would keep him, to degrade him as much as he himself had been

degraded by Hindley. If Edgar insisted on taking Hareton, Heathcliff threatened to claim his own son

Linton, so Ellen gave the idea up.

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Chapter 18

Summary

In the next twelve years, Cathy Linton grew up to be "the most winning thing that ever brought sunshine

into a desolate house”. She was fair like a Linton, except for her mother's dark eyes. High-spirited but

gentle, she seemed to combine the good qualities of both the Lintons and the Earnshaws, though she was a

little saucy because she was accustomed to getting her way. Her father kept her within the park of the

Grange, but she dreamed of going to see some cliffs, Penistone Craggs, which were located not too far away

on the moor.

When Isabella fell ill, she wrote to Edgar to come visit her, so he was gone for three weeks. One day Cathy

asked Ellen to give her some food for a ramble around the grounds––she was pretending to be an Arabian

merchant going across the desert with her caravan of a pony and three dogs. She left the grounds, however,

and later Ellen went after her on the road to Penistone Crags, which passed Wuthering Heights. She found

Cathy safe and sound there––Heathcliff wasn't home, and the housekeeper had taken her in–– chattering to

Hareton, now 18 years old. After Ellen arrived, Cathy offended Hareton by asking whether he was the

master's son, and when he said he wasn't, deciding that he must be a servant. The housekeeper told Cathy

that Hareton was her cousin, which made her cry. Hareton offered her a puppy to console her, which she

refused. Ellen told Cathy that her father didn't want her to go to Wuthering Heights, and asked her not to tell

Edgar about the incident, to which Cathy readily agreed.

Chapter 19

Summary

Isabella died, and Edgar returned home with his half-orphaned nephew, Linton, a "pale, delicate, effeminate

boy” (200) with a "sickly peevishness" in his appearance. Cathy was excited to see her cousin, and took to

babying him when she saw that he was sickly and childish. That very evening, Joseph came to demand the

child on Heathcliff’s behalf––Linton was, after all, Heathcliff’s son. Ellen told him Edgar was asleep, but

Joseph went into Edgar’s room and insisted on taking Linton. Edgar wished to keep Linton at the Grange,

but could not legally claim him, so he could only put it off until the next morning.

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Chapter 20

Summary

The next morning, Ellen woke Linton early and took him over to Wuthering Heights, promising dishonestly

that it was only for a little while. Linton was surprised to hear he had a father, since Isabella had never

spoken of Heathcliff. When they arrived, Heathcliff and Joseph expressed their contempt for the delicate

boy. Heathcliff told Linton that his mother was a "wicked slut" because she did not tell Linton about his

father. Ellen asked Heathcliff to be kind to the boy, and he said that he would indeed have him carefully

tended, mostly because Linton was heir to the Grange, so he wanted him to live at least until Edgar was

dead and he inherited. So when Linton refused to eat the homely oatmeal Joseph offered him, Heathcliff

ordered that his son be given tea and boiled milk instead. When Ellen left, Linton begged her not to leave

him there.

Chapter 21

Summary

Cathy missed her cousin when she woke up that morning, but time made her forget him. Linton grew up to

be a selfish and disagreeable boy, continually complaining about his health. On Cathy's sixteenth birthday

she and Ellen went out on the moors, and strayed ontoHeathcliff's land, where he found them. He invited

them to come toWuthering Heights, telling Ellen that he wanted Linton and Cathy to marry so he would be

doubly sure of inheriting the Grange. Cathy was glad to see her cousin, though she was somewhat taken

back by his invalidish behavior. Hareton, at Heathcliff's request, showed Cathy around the farm, though he

was shy of her and she teased him unkindly. Linton mocked Hareton’s lack of education in front of Cathy,

showing himself to be mean-spirited.

Later, Cathy told her father where she had been, and asked him why he had not allowed the cousins to see

each other. Heathcliff had told her that Edgar was still angry at him because he thought Heathcliff too poor

to marry Isabella. Edgar told her of Heathcliff's wickedness, and forbade her to return to Wuthering Heights.

Cathy was unhappy, and began a secret correspondence with Linton. By the time Ellen discovered it, they

were writing love letters––affected ones on Linton's part, that Ellen suspected had been partially dictated by

Heathcliff. Ellen confronted Cathy and burned the letters, threatening to tell her father if Cathy continued to

write to Linton.

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Chapter 22

Summary

That fall, Edgar caught a cold that confined him to the house all winter. Cathy grew sadder after the end of

her little romance, and told Ellen that she was afraid of being alone after Ellen and her father die. Taking a

walk, Cathy ended up briefly stranded outside of the wall of the park, when Heathcliff rode by. He told her

that Linton was dying of a broken heart, and that if she were kind, she would visit him. Ellen told her that

Heathcliff was probably lying and couldn't be trusted, but the next day Cathy persuaded her to accompany

her on a visit to Wuthering Heights.

Chapter 23

Summary

At Wuthering Heights, Cathy and Ellen heard "a peevish voice” calling Joseph for more hot coals for the

fire. Following the sound of the voice, they discovered Linton, who greeted them rather ungraciously: "No

don't kiss me. It takes my breath dear me!" He complained that writing to Cathy had been very tiring, and

that the servants didn't take care of him as they ought, and that he hated them. He said that he wished Cathy

would marry him, because wives always loved their husbands, upon which Cathy answered that this was not

always so. Her father had told her that Isabella had not loved Heathcliff. Upon hearing this, Linton became

angry and answered that Catherine's mother had loved Heathcliff and not Edgar. Cathy pushed his chair and

he coughed for a long time, for which she was very sorry. Linton took advantage of her regret and bullied

her like a true hypochondriac, making her promise to return the next day to nurse him.

When Cathy and Ellen were on their way home, Ellen expressed her disapproval of Linton and said he

would die young––a “small loss”. She added that Cathy should on no account marry him. Cathy was not so

sure he would die, and was much friendlier toward him.

Ellen caught a cold and was confined to her room. Cathy spent almost all her time taking care of her and

Edgar, but she was free in the evenings. As Ellen later found out, she used this time to visit Linton.

Chapter 24

Summary

Three weeks later, Ellen was much better, and discovered Cathy's evening visits to Wuthering Heights.

Cathy told her what had happened:

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Cathy bribed a servant with her books to take care of saddling her pony and keep her escapades secret. On

her second visit, she and Linton had an argument about the best way of spending a summer afternoon:

Linton wanted to lie in the heather and dream it away, and she wanted to rock in a treetop among the birds.

"He wanted to lie in an ecstasy of peace;” Cathy explained “I wanted all to sparkle, and dance in a glorious

jubilee". They made up and played ball until Linton became unhappy because he always lost, but as usual,

Cathy consoled him for that.

Cathy looked forward to her next visit, but when she arrived, she met Hareton, who showed her how he had

learned to read his name. She mocked him for it. (Here Ellen rebuked Cathy for having been so rude to her

cousin. Cathy was surprised by Ellen’s reaction, but went on.) When she was reading to Linton, Hareton

came in angrily and ordered them into the kitchen. Shut out of his favorite room, Linton staged a frightening

temper tantrum, wearing an expression of "frantic, powerless fury” and shrieking that he would kill Hareton.

Joseph pointed out that he was showing his father's character. Linton coughed blood and fainted; Cathy

fetched Zillah. Hareton carried the boy upstairs but wouldn't let Cathy follow. When she cried, Hareton

began to regret his behavior. Cathy struck him with her whip and rode home.

On the third day, Linton refused to speak to her except to blame her for the events of the preceding day, and

she left resolving not to return. However, she did eventually, and took Linton to task for being so rude. He

admitted that he was worthless, but said that she was much happier than he and should make allowances.

Heathcliff hated him, and he was very unhappy at Wuthering Heights. However, he loved Cathy.

Cathy was sorry Linton had such a distorted nature, and felt she had an obligation to be his friend. She had

noticed that Heathcliff avoided her, and reprimanded Linton when he did not behave well to her.

Ellen told Edgar about the visits, and he forbade Cathy to return to Wuthering Heights, but wrote to Linton

that he could come to the Grange if he liked.

Chapter 25

Ellen points out to Lockwood that these events only happened the year before, and she hints that Lockwood

might become interested in Cathy, who is not happy at Wuthering Heights. Then she continues with the

narrative.

Edgar asked Ellen what Linton was like, and she told him that he was delicate and had little of his father in

him––Cathy would probably be able to control him if they married. Edgar admitted that he was worried

about what would happen to Cathy if he were to die. As spring advanced Edgar resumed his walks, but

although Cathy took his flushed cheeks and bright eyes for health, Ellen was not so sure. He wrote again to

Linton, asking to see him. Linton answered that his father refused to let him visit the Grange, but that he

Page 17 of 36

hoped to meet Edgar outside sometime. He also wrote that he would like to see Cathy again, and that his

health was improved.

Edgar could not consent, because he could not walk very far, but the two began a correspondence. Linton

wrote well, without complaining about his health (since Heathcliff carefully edited his letters) and

eventually Edgar agreed to Cathy's going to meet Linton on the moors, with Ellen's supervision. Edgar

wished Cathy to marry Linton so she would not have to leave the Grange when he died––but he would not

have wished it if he knew that Linton was dying as fast as he was.

Chapter 26

Summary

When Ellen and Cathy rode to meet Linton, they had to go quite close to Wuthering Heights to find him. He

was evidently very ill, though he claimed to be better: "his large blue eyes wandered timidly over her; the

hollowness round them, transforming to haggard wildness, the languid expression they once possessed".

Linton had a hard time making conversation with Cathy, and was clearly not enjoying their talk, so she

decided to leave. Surprisingly, Linton then looked anxiously towards Wuthering Heights and begged her to

stay longer, and to tell her father he was in "tolerable health". Cathy half-heartedly agreed, and Linton soon

fell into some kind of slumber. He woke suddenly and seemed to be terrified that his father might come.

Eventually, Cathy and Ellen returned home, perplexed by his strange behavior.

Chapter 27

Summary

A week later, Ellen and Cathy were to visit Linton again. Edgar was much sicker, and Cathy didn't want to

leave him, but he encouraged her relationship with Linton, hoping to ensure his daughter's welfare thereby.

Linton "received us with greater animation on this occasion; not the animation of high spirits though, nor

yet of joy; it looked more like fear". Cathy was angry that she had had to leave her father, and she was

disgusted by Linton's abject admissions of terror of his father. Heathcliff came upon them, and asked Ellen

how much longer Edgar had to live: he was worried that Linton would die before Edgar, thus preventing the

marriage. Heathcliff then ordered Linton to get up and bring Cathy into the house, which he did, against

Cathy's will: "Linton... implored her to accompany him, with a frantic importunity that admitted no denial".

Heathcliff pushed Ellen into the house as well and locked the door behind them. When Cathy protested that

she must get home to her father, Heathcliff slapped her brutally and made it clear that she wouldn't leave

Wuthering Heights until she married Linton. Linton showed his true character: as Heathcliff said, "He'll

Page 18 of 36

undertake to torture any number of cats if their teeth be drawn, and their claws pared”. Cathy and Heathcliff

declared their mutual hatred. Ellen remained imprisoned separately from Cathy for five days with Hareton

as her jailer: he gave her food but refused to speak to her beyond what was necessary. She did not know

what was happening to Cathy.

Chapter 28

Summary

On the fifth afternoon of the captivity, Zillah released Ellen, explaining that Heathcliff said she could go

home and that Cathy would follow in time to attend her father's funeral. Edgar was not dead yet, but soon

would be. Ellen asked Linton where Catherine was, and he answered that she was shut upstairs, that they

were married, and that he was glad she was being treated harshly. Apparently he resented that she hadn't

wished to marry him. He was annoyed by her crying, and was glad when Heathcliff struck her as

punishment.

Ellen rebuked Linton for his selfishness and unkindness, and went to the Grange to get help. Edgar was glad

to hear his daughter was safe and would be home soon: he was almost dead, at the age of 39. Upon hearing

of Heathcliff’s plot to take control of his estate, Edgar sent for Mr. Green, the local attorney, to change his

will so that his money would be held in a trust for Cathy. However, Heathcliff bought off Mr. Green and the

lawyer did not arrive until it was too late to change the will. The men sent to Wuthering Heights to rescue

Cathy returned without her, having believed Heathcliff's tale that she was too sick to travel. Very early the

next morning, however, Catherine came back by herself, joyful to hear that her father was still alive. She

had convinced Linton to help her escape. Ellen asked her to tell Edgar that she would be content with Linton

so that he could die happy, to which she agreed. Edgar died "blissfully”. Catherine was stony-eyed with

grief. Mr. Green, now employed by Heathcliff, gave all the servants but Ellen notice to quit, and hurried the

funeral.

Chapter 29

Summary

Heathcliff came to the Grange to fetch Catherine to Wuthering Heights to take care of Linton, who was

dying in terror of his father. When Ellen begged him to allow Cathy and Linton to live at the Grange,

Heathcliff explained that he wanted to get a tenant for the estate (Mr. Lockwood, as it turned out). Catherine

agreed to go because Linton was all she had to love, and explained that she pitied Heathcliff because no one

loved him. Then she left the room.

Page 19 of 36

Heathcliff, in a strange mood, told Ellen what he had done the night before. He had bribed the sexton who

was digging Edgar's grave to uncover his Catherine's coffin, so he could see her face again––he said it was

hers yet. The sexton told him that the face would change if air blew on it, so he tore himself away from

contemplating it, and struck one side of the coffin loose and bribed the sexton to put his body in with

Catherine's when he was dead. Ellen was shocked, and scolded him for disturbing the dead, at which he

replied that on the contrary she had haunted him night and day for eighteen years, and––"yesternight, I was

tranquil. I dreamt I was sleeping my last sleep, by that sleeper, with my heart stopped, and my cheek frozen

against hers”.

Heathcliff then told Ellen what he had done the night after Catherine's burial (the night he beat up Hindley).

He had gone to the kirkyard and dug up the coffin "to have her in his arms again”, but while he was

wrenching at the screws he suddenly felt sure of her living presence. He was consoled, but tortured as well:

from that night for 18 years he constantly felt as though he could almost see her, but not quite. He tried

sleeping in her room, but constantly opened his eyes to see if she were there, he felt so sure she was.

Heathcliff finished his story, and Cathy sadly bade farewell to Ellen.

Chapter 30

Summary

Ellen has now more or less reached the present time in her narrative, and tells Lockwood what Zillah told

her about Cathy’s reception at Wuthering Heights. Cathy spent all her time in Linton's room, and when she

came out she asked Heathcliff to call a doctor, because Linton was very sick. Heathcliff replied: "We know

that! But his life is not worth a farthing”. Cathy was thus left to care for her dying cousin all by herself––

Zillah, Hareton and Joseph would not help her––and became haggard and bewildered from lack of sleep.

Finally Linton died, and when Heathcliff asked Cathy how she felt, she said: "He's safe and I'm free. I

should feel very well but you have left me so long to struggle against death, alone, that I feel and see only

death! I feel like death!" Hareton was sorry for her.

Cathy was ill for the next two weeks. Heathcliff informed her that Linton had left all of his and his wife's

property to himself. One day when Heathcliff was out, Cathy came downstairs. Hareton made shy, friendly

advances, which she angrily rejected. He asked Zillah to ask Cathy to read for them (he was illiterate, but

wished to learn) but she refused on the grounds that she had been forsaken during Linton's illness, and had

no reason to care for Hareton or Zillah. Hareton said that he had in fact asked Heathcliff to be allowed to

relieve her of some of her duties, but was denied. Cathy was in no mood to forgive, however, and thus

became the unfriendly young woman whom Lockwood had seen at Wuthering Heights. According to Zillah:

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"She'll snap at the master himself, and as good dares him to thrash her; and the more hurt she gets, the more

venomous she grows". Ellen wanted to get a cottage and live there with Cathy, but Heathcliff would not

permit it. Ellen now believes that the only way Cathy might escape from Wuthering Heights is to marry a

second time.

Chapter 31

Summary

Lockwood goes to Wuthering Heights to see Heathcliff and tell him he is moving to London and thus

doesn’t want to stay at the Grange any longer. He notices that Hareton is "as handsome a rustic as need be

seen". He gives Cathy a note from Ellen. Initially, Cathy thinks it is from Lockwood and rejects it, but when

Lockwood makes it clear that it isn’t, Hareton snatches it away, saying that Heathcliff should look at it first

(he isn’t home yet). Cathy tries to hide her tears, but Hareton notices and lets the letter drop beside her seat.

She reads it and expresses her longing for freedom, telling Lockwood that she can’t even write Ellen back

because Heathcliff has destroyed her books. Hareton has all the other books in the house: he has been trying

to learn to read. Catherine mocks him for his clumsy attempts at self-education: "Those books, both prose

and verse, were consecrated to me by other associations, and I hate to hear them debased and profaned in his

mouth!" Poor Hareton fetches the books and throws them into her lap, saying he doesn’t want to think about

them any longer. She persists in her mockery, reading aloud in "the drawling tone of a beginner," for which

Hareton slaps her and throws the books into the fire. Lockwood "read[s] in his countenance what anguish it

was to offer that sacrifice to spleen."

Heathcliff enters and Hareton leaves, "to enjoy his grief and anger in solitude”. Heathcliff moodily confides

to Lockwood that Hareton reminds him more of Catherine Earnshaw than he does of Hindley. He also tells

Lockwood that he will still have to pay his full rent even if he leaves the Grange, to which Lockwood,

insulted, agrees. Heathcliff invites Lockwood to dinner, and informs Cathy that she can eat with Joseph in

the kitchen. Lockwood eats the cheerless meal and leaves, contemplating the possibility of his courting

Cathy and bringing her "into the stirring atmosphere of the town”.

Chapter 32

Summary

In the fall of 1802, later that year, Lockwood returns to the Grange because he is passing through the area on

a hunting trip. He finds the Grange more or less empty: Ellen is now at Wuthering Heights, and an old

woman had replaced her. Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights to see what has changed. He notices flowers

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growing around the old farm house, and overhears a pleasant lesson from indoors. Cathy, sounding "sweet

as a silver bell" is teaching Hareton, now respectably dressed, to read. The lesson is interspersed with kisses

and very kind words. Lockwood doesn’t want to disturb them, and goes around to the kitchen to find Ellen

singing and Joseph complaining as usual. Ellen is glad to see Lockwood and tells them that he will have to

settle the rent with her, since she is acting for Cathy. Heathcliff has been dead for three months. Ellen tells

Lockwood what has happened in his absence.

A fortnight after Lockwood left the Grange the previous spring, Nelly was summoned to Wuthering

Heights, where she gladly went, hoping to keep Cathy out of Heathcliff's way. She was pleased to see

Cathy, but saddened by the way the young woman’s personality had changed.

One day when Cathy, Ellen, and Hareton were sitting in the kitchen, Cathy grew tired of the animosity

between herself and her cousin and offered him a book, which he refused. She left it close to him, but he

never touched it. Hareton was injured in a shooting accident in March, and since Heathcliff didn't like to see

him, he spent a lot of time sitting in the kitchen, where Cathy found many reasons to go. Finally her efforts

at reconciliation succeeded, and they became loving friends, much to Joseph's indignation.

Chapter 33

Summary

The next morning Ellen found Catherine with Hareton in the garden, planning a flower garden in the middle

of Joseph's cherished currant bushes. She warned them that they would be punished for destroying the

bushes, but Hareton promised to take the blame. At tea, Cathy was careful not to talk to Hareton too much,

but she put flowers into his porridge, which made him laugh and made Heathcliff angry. Heathcliff assumed

Cathy had laughed, but Hareton quietly admitted his fault. Joseph came in and incoherently bewailed the

fate of his bushes. Hareton said he had uprooted some, but would plant them again, and Cathy said it had

been at her instigation. Heathcliff called her an "insolent slut” and Cathy accused him of having stolen her

land and Hareton's. Heathcliff commanded Hareton to throw her out. The poor boy was torn between his

two loyalties and tried to persuade Catherine to leave. Heathcliff seemed "ready to tear Catherine in pieces"

when he suddenly calmed down and told everyone to leave. Later Hareton asked Catherine not to speak ill

of Heathcliff in front of him because Hareton considers him to be his father. Cathy understood his position

and refrained from insulting her oppressor from then on. Ellen was glad to see her two ‘children’ happy

together; Hareton quickly shook off his ignorance and boorishness and Catherine became sweet again.

When Heathcliff saw them together he was struck by their resemblances to Catherine Earnshaw, and told

Ellen that he had lost his motivation for destruction. He no longer took any interest in everyday life.

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Catherine and Hareton didn't appear to him to be distinct characters of their own, but apparitions that evoked

his beloved. He also felt Hareton to be very much like himself as a youth. But most importantly, his

Catherine haunted him completely: "The most ordinary faces of men, and women my own features mock

me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I

have lost her!" He told Nelly that he felt a change coming––that he could no longer exist in the living world

when he felt so close to that of the dead, or the immortal. Nelly wondered whether he was ill, but decided

that he was in fine health and mind, except for his “monomania” for Catherine Earnshaw.

Chapter 34

Summary

In the next few days Heathcliff all but stopped eating, and spent the nights walking outside. Catherine,

happily working on her garden, came across him and was surprised to see him looking "very much excited,

and wild, and glad". Ellen urged him to eat, and indeed at dinner he took a heaping plate, but abruptly lost

interest in food, seemed to be watching something by the window, and went outside. Hareton followed to

ask him what was wrong, and Heathcliff told him to go back to Catherine and not bother him. He came back

an hour or two later, with the same "unnatural appearance of joy”, shivering the way a "tight-stretched cord

vibrates a strong thrilling, rather than trembling." Ellen asked him what was going on, and he answered that

he was within sight of his heaven, hardly three feet away. His heaven, needless to say, was being buried

alongside Catherine Earnshaw.

Later that evening, Ellen found Heathcliff sitting in the dark with all the windows open. His black eyes and

pale face frightened her. Ellen half-wondered if he were a vampire, but told herself that she was foolish,

since she had watched him grow up. The next day he was even more restless and could hardly speak

coherently, and stared with fascination at nothing with an "anguished, yet raptured expression". Early the

next morning, ¬¬he declared he wanted to settle things with his lawyer, Mr. Green. Ellen said he should eat,

and get some sleep, but he replied that he could do neither: "My soul's bliss kills my body, but does not

satisfy itself". Ellen told him to repent his sins, and he thanked her for the reminder and asked her to make

sure that he was buried next to Catherine: "I have nearly attained my heaven; and that of others is altogether

unvalued, and uncoveted by me." Heathcliff behaved more and more strangely, talking openly of Catherine.

Ellen called the doctor, but Heathcliff refused to see him. The next morning she found him dead in his room,

by the open window, wet from the rain and cut by the broken window-pane, with his eyes fiercely open and

wearing a savage smile. Hareton mourned deeply for him. The doctor wondered what could have killed him,

although Ellen knew that it was Heathcliff’s depression. He was buried alongside Catherine’s remains, as he

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had asked. People claim that his ghost roams the moors with Catherine. Ellen once came across a little boy

crying because he believed he had seen Heathcliff’s phantom with a woman and dared not pass them.

Cathy and Hareton are engaged, and they plan to move to the Grange, leaving Wuthering Heights to Joseph

and the ghosts. Lockwood notices on his walk home that the church was falling apart from neglect, and he

found the three headstones––Catherine's, Edgar's, and Heathcliff's––covered by varying degrees of heather.

He "wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for sleepers in that quiet earth".

Wuthering Heights Character List

Catherine Earnshaw

Mr. Earnshaw's daughter and Hindley's sister. She is also Heathcliff's foster sister and love interest. She

marries Edgar Linton and has a daughter, also named Catherine. Catherine is beautiful and charming, but

she is never as civilized as she pretends to be. In her heart she is always a wild girl playing on the moors

with Heathcliff. She regards it as her right to be loved by all, and has an unruly temper. Heathcliff usually

calls her Cathy; Edgar usually calls her Catherine.

Cathy Linton

The daughter of the older Catherine and Edgar Linton. She has all her mother's charm without her wildness,

although she is by no means submissive and spiritless. Edgar calls her Cathy. She marries Linton Heathcliff

to become Catherine Heathcliff, and then marries Hareton to be Catherine Earnshaw.

Mr. Earnshaw

A plain, fairly well-off farmer with few pretensions but a kind heart. He is a stern father to Catherine. He

takes in Heathcliff despite his family's protests.

Edgar Linton

Isabella's older brother, who marries Catherine Earnshaw and fathers Catherine Linton. In contrast to

Heathcliff, he is a gently bred, refined man, a patient husband and a loving father. His faults are a certain

effeminacy, and a tendency to be cold and unforgiving when his dignity is hurt.

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Ellen Dean

One of the main narrators. She has been a servant with the Earnshaws and the Lintons for all her life, and

knows them better than anyone else. She is independent and high-spirited, and retains an objective

viewpoint on those she serves. She is called Nelly by those who are on the most egalitarian terms with her:

Mr. Earnshaw, the older Catherine, and Heathcliff.

Frances Earnshaw

Hindley's wife, a young woman of unknown background. She seems rather flighty and giddy to Ellen, and

displays an irrational fear of death, which is explained when she dies of tuberculosis.

Hareton Earnshaw

The son of Hindley and Frances; he marries the younger Catherine. For most of the novel, he is rough,

rustic, and uncultured, having been carefully kept from all civilizing influences by Heathcliff. He grows up

to be superficially like Heathcliff, but is really much more sweet-tempered and forgiving. He never blames

Heathcliff for having disinherited him, for example, and remains his oppressor's staunchest ally.

Hindley Earnshaw

The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, and Catherine's older brother. He is a bullying, discontented boy

who grows up to be a violent alcoholic when his beloved wife, Frances, dies. He hates Heathcliff because he

felt supplanted in his father's affections by the other boy, and Heathcliff hates him even more in return.

Heathcliff

A foundling taken in by Mr. Earnshaw and raised with his children. Of unknown descent, he represents wild

and natural forces which often seem amoral and dangerous for society. His almost inhuman devotion to

Catherine is the moving force in his life, seconded by his vindictive hatred for all those who stand between

him and his beloved. He is cruel but magnificent in his consistency, and the reader can never forget that at

the heart of the grown man lies the abandoned, hungry child of the streets of Liverpool.

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Isabella Linton

Edgar's younger sister, who marries Heathcliff to become Isabella Heathcliff. Her son is named Linton

Heathcliff. Before she marries Heathcliff, she is a rather shallow-minded young lady, pretty and quick-

witted but a little foolish (as can be seen by her choice of husbands). Her unhappy marriage brings out an

element of cruelty in her character: when her husband treats her brutally, she rapidly grows to hate him with

all her heart.

Joseph

A household servant at Wuthering Heights who outlives all his masters. His brand of religion is unforgiving

for others and self-serving for himself. His heavy Yorkshire accent gives flavor to the novel.

Dr. Kenneth

The local doctor who appears when people are sick or dying. He is a sympathetic and intelligent man, whose

main concern is the health of his patients.

Mr. and Mrs. Linton

Edgar and Isabella's parents. They spoil their children and turn the older Catherine into a little lady, being

above all concerned about good manners and behavior. They are unsympathetic to Heathcliff when he is a

child.

Linton Heathcliff

The son of Heathcliff and Isabella. He combines the worst characteristics of both parents, and is effeminate,

weakly, and cruel. He uses his status as an invalid to manipulate the tender-hearted younger Catherine. His

father despises him. Linton marries Catherine and dies soon after.

Lockwood

The narrator of the novel. He is a gentleman from London, in distinct contrast to the other rural characters.

He is not particularly sympathetic and tends to patronize his subjects.

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Zillah

The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights after Hindley's death and before Heathcliff's. She doesn't particularly

understand the people she lives with, and stands in marked contrast to Ellen, who is deeply invested in them.

She is an impatient but capable woman.

Juno

Heathcliff's dog.

Skulker

The Lintons' bulldog. Skulker attacks Cathy Earnshaw on her first visit to Thrushcross Grange.

Michael

The Lintons' stable boy.

Mr. Green

A lawyer in Gimmerton who briefly becomes involved with executing Edgar Linton's estate.

THEMES

Literacy

Throughout the novel, reading and literacy are shown to be sources of both power and

pleasure. Heathcliff purposely keeps Hareton uneducated as a way to control the young man and to get

revenge on Hareton's father, Hindley. Likewise, Cathy gives books to her servant, Michael, to convince him

to deliver her love letters to Linton. The graffiti at Wuthering Heights at the beginning of the novel also

serves as a kind of dominion; by carving their names into the wall,Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter

ensure that their spirits will always preside over the crumbling house. However, the characters also derive

significant pleasure from reading; it is one of Cathy's few solaces during her miserable first months at

Wuthering Heights, and it eventually serves as a pretext for her to bond with Hareton.

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Solitude

For a novel that draws its plot from the vicissitudes of interpersonal relationships, it is notable how many of

the characters seem to enjoy solitude. Heathcliff and Hindley both state their preference for isolation early

in the novel, and Lockwood explains that solitude is one of the reasons he chose to move to the remote

Thrushcross Grange. Each of these characters believes that solitude will help them get over romantic

disappointments: Heathcliff becomes increasingly withdrawn after Catherine's death; Hindley becomes

crueler than ever to others after he loses his wife, Frances; and Lockwood's move to the Grange was

precipitated by a briefly mentioned romantic disappointment of his own. However, Brontë ultimately casts

doubt on solitude's ability to heal psychic wounds. Heathcliff's yearning for Catherine causes him to behave

like a monster to people around him; Hindley dies alone as an impoverished alcoholic; and Lockwood

quickly gives up on the Grange's restorative potential and moves to London.

Doubles

Given the symmetrical structure of Wuthering Heights, it follows naturally that Brontë should thematize

doubles and doubleness. Catherine Earnshaw notes her own "double character" when she tries to explain her

attraction to both Edgar and Heathcliff, and their shared name suggests that Cathy Linton is, in some ways,

a double for her mother. There are also many parallel pairings throughout the novel that suggests that certain

characters are doubles of each other: Heathcliff and Catherine, Edgar and Isabella, Hareton and Cathy, and

even Hindley and Ellen (consider the latter's deep grief when Hindley dies, and that they are 'milk siblings').

Catherine's famous insistence that "I am Heathcliff" reinforces the concept that individuals can share an

identity.

Self-knowledge

Brontë frequently dissociates the self from the consciousness––that is, characters have to get to know

themselves just as they would another person. This becomes a major concern when Catherine Earnshaw

decides against her better judgment to marry Edgar Linton; she is self-aware enough to acknowledge that

she has a 'double character' and that Heathcliff may be a better match for her, but she lacks the confidence to

act on this intuition. Self-knowledge also affects how characters get to know others; Isabella knows how

violent Heathcliff is, but is unable to acknowledge this because she believes herself capable of controlling

him.

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Disease and contagion

Disease and contagion––specifically consumption, or as it's known today, tuberculosis––are inescapable

presences in Wuthering Heights. Isabella becomes sick after meeting Heathcliff, and Catherine Earnshaw

indirectly kills Mr. and Mrs. Linton by giving them her fever. Even emotional troubles are pathologized

much like physical illnesses; consider how Catherine's unhappy marriage and Heathcliff's return contribute

to the 'brain fever' that leads to her death. Perhaps most importantly, Lockwood falling ill is what motivates

Ellen to tell the story in the first place. The prominence of disease in the novel is a physical indicator of the

outsize influence that individuals have on each other in Brontë's world––getting too close to the wrong

person can literally lead to death.

Sibling relationships

Sibling relationships are unusually strong in the Earnshaw and Linton families. Indeed, the novel's most

prominent relationship––the love between Catherine and Heathcliff––begins when the two are raised as

siblings at Wuthering Heights. It is never entirely clear whether their love for each other is romantic or the

love of extremely close siblings; although Catherine expresses a desire to marry Heathcliff, they are never

shown having sex and their union seems more spiritual than physical. After Catherine's death, Heathcliff

gets revenge on Edgar for marrying Catherine by encouraging Isabella to marry him and then mistreating

her. Given that Emily Brontë is thought to have had no friends outside of her own family (although she was

very close to her brother Branwell and her sisters Anne and Charlotte), it is perhaps unsurprising that close

sibling relationships are a driving force in her only novel.

Humanity versus nature

Brontë is preoccupied with the opposition between human civilization and nature. This is represented

figuratively in her descriptions of the moors, but she also ties this conflict to specific characters. For

example, Catherine and Heathcliff resolve to grow up "as rude as savages" in response to Hindley's abuse,

and Ellen likens Hindley to a "wild-beast" . The natural world is frequently associated with evil and reckless

passion; when Brontë describes a character as 'wild,' that character is usually cruel and inconsiderate––take

for example Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, and Hindley. However, Brontë also expresses a certain

appreciation for the natural world; Linton and Cathy Linton's ideas of heaven both involve peaceful

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afternoons in the grass and among the trees. Likewise, Hareton is actually a very noble and gentle spirit,

despite his outward lack of civilization and his description as a "rustic".

_______________________________________________________________________________________

A Brief Summary

Many people, generally those who have never read the book, consider Wuthering Heights to be a

straightforward, if intense, love story — Romeo and Juliet on the Yorkshire Moors. But this is a mistake.

Really the story is one of revenge. It follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious gypsy-like person, from

childhood (about seven years old) to his death in his late thirties. Heathcliff rises in his adopted family and

then is reduced to the status of a servant, running away when the young woman he loves decides to marry

another. He returns later, rich and educated, and sets about gaining his revenge on the two families that he

believed ruined his life.

Prologue

Chapters 1 to 3

Mr Lockwood, a rich man from the south, has rented Thrushcross Grange in the north of England for peace

and recuperation. Soon after arrival, he visits his landlord, Mr Heathcliff, who lives in the remote moorland

farmhouse called "Wuthering Heights". He finds the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights to be a strange group:

Mr Heathcliff appears a gentleman but his manners and speech suggest otherwise; the mistress of the house

is in her late teens, an attractive but reserved, even rude woman; and there is a young man who appears to be

one of the family although he dresses and talks like a servant.

Being snowed in, he has to stay the night and is shown to an unused chamber where he finds books and

graffiti from a former inhabitant of the farmhouse called "Catherine". When he falls asleep, his dreams are

prompted by this person and he has a nightmare where he sees her as a ghost trying to get in through the

window. He wakes and is unable to return to sleep so, as soon as the sun rises, he is escorted back to

Thrushcross Grange by Heathcliff. There he asks his housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell him the story of the

family from the Heights.

The Childhood of Heathcliff

Chapters 4 to 17

The story begins thirty years before when the Earnshaw family lived at Wuthering Heights consisting of, as

well as the mother and father, Hindley, a boy of fourteen, and six-year-old Catherine, the same person that

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he had dreamt about and the mother of the present mistress. In that year, Mr Earnshaw travels to Liverpool

where he finds a homeless, gypsy-like boy of about seven whom he decides to adopt as his son. He names

him "Heathcliff". Hindley, who finds himself excluded from his father's affections by this newcomer,

quickly learns to hate him but Catherine grows very attached to him. Soon Heathcliff and Catherine are like

twins, spending hours on the moors together and hating every moment apart.

Because of this discord, Hindley is eventually sent to college but he returns, three years later, when Mr

Earnshaw dies. With a new wife, Frances, he becomes master of Wuthering Heights and forces Heathcliff to

become a servant instead of a member of the family.

Heathcliff and Cathy continue to run wild and, in November, a few months after Hindley's return, they make

their way to Thrushcross Grange to spy on the inhabitants. As they watch the childish behaviour of Edgar

and Isabella Linton, the children of the Grange, they are spotted and try to escape. Catherine, having been

caught by a dog, is brought inside and helped while Heathcliff is sent home.

Five weeks later, Catherine returns to Wuthering Heights but she has now changed, looking and acting as a

lady. She laughs at Heathcliff's unkempt appearance and, the next day when the Lintons visit, he dresses up

to impress her. It fails when Edgar makes fun of him and they argue. Heathcliff is locked in the attic where,

in the evening, Catherine climbs over the roof to comfort him. He vows to get his revenge on Hindley.

In the summer of the next year, Frances gives birth to a child, Hareton, but she dies before the year is out.

This leads Hindley to descend into a life of drunkenness and waste.

Two years on and Catherine has become close friends with Edgar, growing more distant from Heathcliff.

One day in August, while Hindley is absent, Edgar comes to visit Catherine . She has an argument with

Ellen which then spreads to Edgar who tries to leave. Catherine stops him and, before long, they declare

themselves lovers.

Later, Catherine talks with Ellen, explaining that Edgar had asked her to marry him and she had accepted.

She says that she does not really love Edgar but Heathcliff. Unfortunately she could never marry the latter

because of his lack of status and education. She therefore plans to marry Edgar and use that position to help

raise Heathcliff's standing. Unfortunately Heathcliff had overheard the first part about not being able to

marry him and flees from the farmhouse. He disappears without trace and, after three years, Edgar and

Catherine are married.

Six months after the marriage, Heathcliff returns as a gentleman, having grown stronger and richer during

his absence. Catherine is delighted to see him although Edgar is not so keen. Isabella, now eighteen, falls

madly in love with Heathcliff, seeing him as a romantic hero. He despises her but encourages the

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infatuation, seeing it as a chance for revenge on Edgar. When he embraces Isabella one day at the Grange,

there is a argument with Edgar which causes Catherine to lock herself in her room and fall ill.

Heathcliff has been staying at the Heights, gambling with Hindley and teaching Hareton bad habits. Hindley

is gradually losing his wealth, mortgaging the farmhouse to Heathcliff to repay his debts.

While Catherine is ill, Heathcliff elopes with Isabella, causing Edgar to disown his sister. The fugitives

marry and return two months later to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff hears that Catherine is ill and arranges

with Ellen to visit her in secret. In the early hours of the day after their meeting, Catherine gives birth to her

daughter, Cathy, and then dies.

The day after Catherine's funeral, Isabella flees Heathcliff and escapes to the south of England where she

eventually gives birth to Linton, Heathcliff's son. Hindley dies six months after his sister and Heathcliff

finds himself the master of Wuthering Heights and the guardian of Hareton.

The Maturity of Heathcliff

Chapters 18 to 31

Twelve years on, Cathy has grown into a beautiful, high-spirited girl who has rarely passed outside the

borders of the Grange. Edgar hears that Isabella is dying and leaves to pick up her son with the intention of

adopting him. While he is gone, Cathy meets Hareton on the moors and learns of her cousin and Wuthering

Heights' existence.

Edgar returns with Linton who is a weak and sickly boy. Although Cathy is attracted to him, Heathcliff

wants his son with him and insists on having him taken to the Heights.

Three years later, Ellen and Cathy are on the moors when they meet Heathcliff who takes them to

Wuthering Heights to see Linton and Hareton. His plans are for Linton and Cathy to marry so that he would

inherit Thrushcross Grange. Cathy and Linton begin a secret and interrupted friendship.

In August of the next year, while Edgar is very ill, Ellen and Cathy visit Wuthering Heights and are held

captive by Heathcliff who wants to marry his son to Cathy and, at the same time, prevent her from returning

to her father before he dies. After five days, Ellen is released and Cathy escapes with Linton's help just in

time to see her father before he dies.

With Heathcliff now the master of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, Cathy has no choice

but to leave Ellen and to go and live with Heathcliff and Hareton. Linton dies soon afterwards and, although

Hareton tries to be kind to her, she retreats into herself. This is the point of the story at which Lockwood

arrives.

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After being ill with a cold for some time, Lockwood decides that he has had enough of the moors and

travels to Wuthering Heights to inform Heathcliff that he is returning to the south.

Epilogue

Chapters 32 to 34

In September, eight months after leaving, Lockwood finds himself back in the area and decides to stay at

Thrushcross Grange (since his tenancy is still valid until October). He finds that Ellen is now living at

Wuthering Heights. He makes his way there and she fills in the rest of the story.

Ellen had moved to the Heights soon after Lockwood had left to replace the housekeeper who had departed.

In March, Hareton had had an accident and been confined to the farmhouse. During this time, a friendship

had developed between Cathy and Hareton. This continues into April when Heathcliff begins to act very

strangely, seeing visions of Catherine. After not eating for four days, he is found dead in his room. He is

buried next to Catherine.

Lockwood departs but, before he leaves, he hears that Hareton and Cathy plan to marry on New Year's Day.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Plot Overview

In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange

in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he meets his dour landlord, Heathcliff, a wealthy man who

lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy

countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange

denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in

his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights.

Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner

of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home

with an orphan boy whom he will raise with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named

Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff. But Catherine quickly comes

to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors. After his wife’s

death, Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to

Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby.

Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife,

Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored son,

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Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields. Heathcliff continues

his close relationship with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, hoping to

tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog

and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs. Linton works to

make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her

relationship with Heathcliff grows more complicated.

When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of

alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff. Eventually, Catherine’s desire

for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for

Heathcliff. Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years, and returning

shortly after Catherine and Edgar’s marriage.

When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him. Having

come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that

Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the

manor. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton, whom he

treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies. Heathcliff begs her spirit to

remain on Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him mad—just as long as

she does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son,

named Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with her there.

Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross

Grange. Young Catherine is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament is modified by

her father’s gentler influence. Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering

Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and

plays together with him. Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff. Heathcliff

treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy’s mother.

Three years later, Catherine meets Heathcliff on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet

Linton. She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters. When Nelly destroys

Catherine’s collection of letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young

lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However, it quickly becomes apparent that

Linton is pursuing Catherine only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine

marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be

complete. One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to

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Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar

dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathcliff now controls both

Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a

common servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.

Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled, ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange

and returns to London. However, six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further

developments in the story. Although Catherine originally mocked Hareton’s ignorance and illiteracy (in an

act of retribution, Heathcliff ended Hareton’s education after Hindley died), Catherine grows to love

Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff becomes more and more obsessed with the

memory of the elder Catherine, to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he sees

reminds him of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and young

Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New

Year’s Day. After hearing the end of the story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and

Heathcliff.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Summary

The first three chapters of the novel are narrated by Mr. Lockwood as a recollection from his diary several

years after the events took place in 1801. Lockwood, a native of London, rents Thrushcross Grange, in the

desolate Yorkshire moors, in order to enjoy some solitude. On a visit to his landlord Heathcliff’s residence,

Wuthering Heights, he encounters some unusually unhappy people: Cathy, Heathcliff’s daughter-in-law,

whom Lockwood at first mistakes for his wife; Hareton Earnshaw, an ill-bred young man whose social

status leaves Lockwood confused; Joseph, the snarling, rude servant; and Zillah, the only helpful person

there. Most forbidding is Heathcliff himself, a man whom Lockwood describes as even more unsociable

than he.

Due to a raging snowstorm on his subsequent visit, Lockwood is forced to spend the night. While sleeping,

he dreams of a ghostly child, identifying herself as Catherine Linton, grabbing at his arm and trying to get in

through a broken window pane. Heathcliff is devastated to hear the dream and orders Lockwood downstairs

so he can beg for the spirit to reappear.

Relieved to get away from this unhappy, strange house, Lockwood returns to the Grange. His housekeeper,

Nelly, takes over from him as the narrator, due to his prodding about the inhabitants of the Heights. Her

narrative returns to her childhood, some thirty years earlier, when she was a servant at the Heights. She was

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working for the Earnshaw family, and growing up with their two children, Hindley and Catherine, a

beautiful, but wild spirited girl.

One day, Mr. Earnshaw had returned from a trip to Liverpool with a swarthy street orphan, who he intended

to raise with his own children, against the wishes of his family. The boy is named Heathcliff, after a son

who had died in infancy. Catherine and Heathcliff soon become close friends, but Hindley views Heathcliff

as a rival for his father’s affections. Indeed, Mr. Earnshaw does prefer Heathcliff to his own son, whom he

views as a disappointment. Hindley’s treatment of Heathcliff causes sufficient household friction that

Hindley is sent away to college. Soon after, Mr. Earnshaw dies.

Hindley returns home for the funeral with a wife, Frances, upon whom he dotes. Redoubling his hatred for

Heathcliff, Hindley relegates him to servile status, causing Catherine much unhappiness. She and Heathcliff

are frequently punished, but escape to play on the moors.

During one such escape, the two venture to Thrushcross Grange, home of the Linton family and their

children, Edgar and Isabella. Catherine, attacked by one of the dogs, is affectionately cared for, while

Heathcliff is turned away for appearing to be a villain. When Catherine returns home after a five-week

convalescence, she has become a well-mannered young lady. Taking pleasure in humiliating Heathcliff,

Hindley tells him to come greet Catherine as if he were one of the servants. Later, when Edgar and Isabella

come to visit, Hindley treats Heathcliff with particular humiliation. Heathcliff swears revenge on Hindley,

even if it takes a lifetime.

Frances dies giving birth to a son, Hareton. Anguished, Hindley soon becomes lost in alcoholic madness.

Meanwhile, Catherine tells Nelly that she will marry Edgar because Heathcliff is socially beneath her.

Overhearing, Heathcliff runs away before Catherine admits how profoundly she loves him.

Three years later, Edgar and Catherine marry. Heathcliff returns, moving in with Hindley in order to gain

his revenge by inducing him to gamble away all his money. A frequent visitor to the Lintons, Edgar soon

becomes jealous of his wife’s attachment to Heathcliff, and orders him to leave. Heathcliff gets his revenge

on Edgar by eloping with Edgar’s sister, Isabella. Although he despises her, Heathcliff marries Isabella in

order to inherit her money. Catherine becomes dangerously ill, and dies after giving birth to a daughter,

Cathy.

Treated contemptibly by Heathcliff, Isabella runs away to the South, where she gives birth to a sickly son,

Linton. Upon her death, Edgar tries to keep Linton, but Heathcliff demands custody. Raising his daughter to

avoid Wuthering Heights and its inhabitants, Cathy forgets about Linton until she sees him by accident

some years later.

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Heathcliff’s revenge against the Earnshaw and Linton families includes garnering all their property for

himself. He already possesses the Earnshaw estate, leaving Hareton an illiterate farmworker, completely

dependent on Heathcliff. Heathcliff plans to do the same to Cathy, by forcing her to marry Linton, who

cannot live past his teens, and therefore control all her inheritance as well.

It is now 1802, and Nelly has brought Lockwood up to date with her history. The story continues. Heathcliff

succeeds in accomplishing his plans. Edgar and Linton are dead, and Cathy is as penniless and dependent as

Hareton. When the two cousins fall in love, Heathcliff realizes he is no longer interested in destroying

anything. He becomes obsessed with a vision of his beloved Catherine’s spirit hovering nearby, waiting for

him to join her. Within three days of his vision, Heathcliff dies and is buried according to his wishes,

alongside Catherine. Local legend claims that their spirits haunt the moors.

Hareton and Cathy plan to marry on New Year’s Day, moving back to Thrushcross Grange, and taking

Nelly with them. Lockwood returns to London.